Always have, always will
by LaylaG12
Summary: Quil Ateara imprinted on Claire Young when she was only two years old...and he almost got beat up for it. They became brother and sister, but as the years go by, how will Quil handle his growing imprint? Will they forever be best friends or will Claire finally get her Quil? Follow Quil and Claire's journey from start to finish.
1. Baby imprint

**Don't own anything except OC's.**

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**Always have, always will.**

**Chapter 1. Baby imprint**

**Quil POV: 2006 (Claire two years old)**

This was stupid. Why couldn't a bunch of super fast, strong and awesome werewolves catch _one _stinking vampire? We'd been hunting her for weeks on end, including extra patrolling that killed my sleeping pattern, and we still hadn't even had a bite of her. Normally we would have destroyed and burnt the stupid bloodsucker by now (we're amazing like that), but this redheaded idiot wasn't even letting us get a lead on her.

Not only that, but it was annoying the piss out of Jacob because she was going to hurt his _precious, perfect _Bella, so he was being extra bitchy lately. Whenever someone even thought about the redhead potentially getting into Forks, Jacob would attack them. I'm not talking about a playful nip and growl, but a full out _murder_ attack. He nearly ripped out Paul's throat the other day (which, I had to admit, was pretty hilarious).

Embry and I finished off our five hour patrol and headed off to Sam and Emily's for one of her homemade muffins. Emily made the best food around and none of us guys were shy about eating it for her. I had only been a wolf for a month and I'd eaten more food during that time than I had during my fifteen years on earth. It was cool for me, but hard work for my poor mother and Emily.

Emily was cooking a load of food when we walked in, we offered to help, but Emily didn't like people to be in the kitchen with her, especially us because we ate it all before it actually got on the table. We were shooed into the living room, which was fine by me because I'd been itching to go in there from a mile away. It was like something was pulling me towards it, a gravitational pull...

It was probably just another quirk of being a werewolf. I found out a new thing about being a giant ass dog every day. Not all of them were good, let me tell you.

"Quil, Embry, these are Emily's nieces, Nora and Claire," Sam said when we walked into the living room.

A young girl, around five, waved at us from the sofa and I smiled back. Sam pointed to someone else so I followed his gaze and saw an even younger girl sat on the floor colouring in a book. She had dark brown hair in a high ponytail and olive skin. At the sound of her name, she looked up and her hazel eyes connected with mine. Just like that, my life changed.

My love for my mother, Jake, Embry, all the other guys in the pack...they all shifted back and Claire was undoubtedly first. I was going to protect her, make sure nothing happened to her or made her sad...I was going to be her brother, her friend.

I distantly heard Embry mutter something along the lines of "ew, gross, man," though I wasn't positive, I didn't care. All I wanted to do was join in with colouring the book Claire was scribbling at and tell her cheesy jokes to make her laugh. Emily's higher voice said something in the background, but it was so muffled that I couldn't hear it properly. It was like there was a piece of thick glass between us.

Just as I took a step towards Claire, I was shoved in the side so hard all the wind was knocked out of me. Gasping for air, I tripped over the dining chair and fell out of the front door and into the clearing of the front garden. Air began to enter my lungs again and I looked up to see Sam glaring at me with so much hate, I flinched.

"Phase, _now_."

Defying the Alpha command was impossible for any pack member, so I felt my body begin to shake and form until I was giant wolf in the middle of Emily Young's front yard. Seconds later, Sam phased too, baring his sharp teeth threateningly at me and hunching his back like he was ready to attack. I watched in confusion as his body visibly relaxed, his teeth disappeared behind his lips and his ears fell back against his head.

Then I realized—well, heard—why he had been acting so weird.

_Fucking hell, Sam, I'm not a pervert, you idiot! _I screamed through the mind link, feeling revolted.

_I-I'm sorry, Quil. I never thought you were_—

_Clearly, you did or you wouldn't have acted like that! I'm not some sick bastard, Sam! I just want to protect her and keep her safe! God, Sam._

Sam reverted back to his human form and rushed off into the woods for a moment, coming back with two pairs of cut-off pants. I phased back after a minute, still quite angry that Sam had thought I had romantic feelings for Claire.

Ew, I was going to be sick.

"I'm sorry, Quil," Sam apologized as I hopped into the cream coloured pants. "I just didn't know what to think...I don't know of anyone who has imprinted on someone so young."

"I'd never hurt her, Sam," I replied strongly. Hurting her would kill me. "It's nothing like you and Emily."

"I know that now," Sam nodded, slapping me on the back. "Sorry."

I shrugged, still hurt that he would think that about me when he had been in my mind for a month. When I walked into the living room again, Embry sent me a confused look and then turned his attention to Sam. Sam immediately went over and I could hear him muttering about what had happened, how I felt and what kind of imprint it was.

"Mate, I thought we'd have to throw you in jail for a minute there," Embry chuckled, punching me in the arm.

I grinned back, but I wanted to see Claire so it came out as more a grimace. Embry went off to tell the pack of what had happened, anyway, so I left to walk over to Claire, who was now colouring in a horse purple.

"That's a cool horse," I said softly, bending down onto my knees so I wasn't towering over her tiny figure.

Claire looked up from her book and smiled at me, showing off a set of not yet fully grown white teeth. "Tanks," she beamed proudly. "Claire," she said, holding her hand out like an adult.

I sniggered and shook it, only three fingers fit in her grip. "Quil."

"Qwil," she replied. Smiling, she handed me the yellow crayon and pointed at the sun with a stern look. "Neat," she demanded.

I fell forward onto my stomach and began to colour in straight away. Her commands were almost as hard to ignore as Sam's. I would have done anything she asked, even jump of the Eiffel Tower as long as it made her happy.

We had finished the picture by the time Emily had done her sandwiches. Claire put her arms in the air and wiggled them when I got to my feet, acting on instinct, I bent down and picked her up to rest on my hip. This seemed to be right as Claire clapped her hands and giggling brightly. Emily eyed me curiously as I settled onto the dining table with Claire on my lap. When I caught her eyes she blushed bright red and looked away, busying herself with setting out the cookies in a perfect circle. Sam sent me a look as if to say 'she's confused' over her shoulder before dropping a kiss on her scarred cheek.

Gently and carefully, I ripped off small pieces of the sandwich and handed them to Claire to chew on. Emily animatedly talked with Sam, trying to act normal I supposed, but I didn't miss the glances she cast me from the corner of her eyes.

After eating, I settled down onto the sofa with Claire by my side to watch some kid program on the television. An hour later, Claire climbed into my lap and rested her head on my chest, so I wrapped my arms around her to keep her propped up safely. She fell asleep minutes later.

It was unbelievable to think I had thought the most exciting thing that was going to happen today was Embry and Paul having a farting contest.

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**Thoughts?**

**My new Quil and Claire story! Hope you like it! I love feedback so tell me what you think!**

**-Laylax**


	2. Princess themed humiliation

**Don't own anything except OC's.**

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**Chapter 2: Princess themed humiliation**

After that day at Sam and Emily's house, my life became a structured routine. Patrol, school, patrol, visit Makah to see Claire, go to Sam and Emily's for an hour, home and bed. I did the same thing _every single day_ (except weekends which I spent down Makah making sure Claire was safe). I felt like a personal stalker.

I tried to just go by with the reassuring of Emily that Claire was okay, but by the end of that week Emily was almost pulling her hair out with my constant questioning and even threatened to shoot me with her dad's rifle, so I went back to my routine. It bothered me that I was stalking a two-year-old, but I couldn't do anything else without it causing me some kind of metal and physical pain (called the "imprint pull") that was impossible to ignore. It was easier just to spend two hours down Makah and make sure Claire was breathing before coming home than staying up all night worrying like an over-obsessive mother and not being able to get through the first three periods of school without falling asleep on Embry's shoulder.

The good news was that we had caught the redheaded bitch that was roaming around town. Edward Cullen (the mind reader bloodsucker that was actually quite cool when you got to know him, though I never said that to Jake) had been the one to rip her head off, alongside the youngest recruit of the pack, Seth Clearwater. I had seen through Seth's mind Victoria (apparently, the thing had a name) being killed and, _damn_, it was awesome. It was also cool to see Jasper Cullen, another one of the allied enemies, snap off a newborns neck with a flick of his wrist and then stomp on the head like it was a cardboard box.

However, the bad news was that Jake (after being almost crushed to death by a red-eyed bastard) had run off into the state of Canada. Edward and Bella Cullen were getting married and Jake was (understandably) pissed off and ran into the woods in wolf form to never be seen again. We tried to connect with him through the mind link but he was so far gone none of us could really understand what the hell he was rambling on about. I felt sorry for him, I really did, he was my best friend after all, but he was being a dick by not talking to any of us. Embry was past himself about Jake being killed by a bear or something and it took me at least half an hour a day to convince Embry not to piss off into Canada with Jake. This conversation normally ended with me threatening bodily harm, but who's taking notice?

Since imprinting on Claire Emily had come to terms with everything and had actually helped me out a lot. Oliver and Jasmine, Claire's parents, were looking for a babysitter for "date nights" and Emily had convinced them to hire me. Emily had made up some sob story about me being broke and not being able to find work anywhere in Forks or La Push and I _really, really _needed to money to help out my mom, who had lost her husband in a freak boating accident. Devilish, but utterly brilliant. So now I got to baby-sit Nora and Claire about twice a month on Saturday nights while their parents went off to some posh restaurant and drank wine that leaked out of their pours the minute they walked through the door.

The only time I hadn't enjoyed being at Claire's house with her was on her third birthday, her Princess themed party. I had been invited and drove down with Sam and Emily for the day with a hand full of presents I couldn't really afford, but knew Claire would love. I had only been there an hour and was forced into sitting on a pink and purple plastic chair that was far too small for me whilst Claire prodding and poked my face with scary looking make-up brushes with frightened substances on the end. Emily had taken a photo after she was done, but I had yet to bare the horror of looking at it.

Oliver and Jasmine were off on a date night again so I got to go up to Makah and baby-sit for them. As I ran up to the reservation the theme tune to Barney ran through my head over and over again, thanks to Nora's obsession with the show.

_Will you shut the fuck up?_ Embry grumbled through the mind link. _You're almost as annoying as Seth these days._

_You're just a little bitch,_ _Embry,_ Seth's chirpy voice intercepted. _I don't even think I've seen you smile since I joined the pack._

_I'm going to kick you in the ass, kid._

_Bring it._

I phased back to human form just as Embry pounced on Seth in, what I hoped, was a joking manner. I quickly laced up my sneakers and flatted down my t-shirt before I headed out of the woods. Wearing shoes and a top was weird considering I was so used to walking around half naked, but Claire's dad was already edgy about me (I heard him tell Jasmine he didn't know a sane kid that wanted to spend his Saturday nights with two toddlers) and I didn't think he would like me turning up in my usual attire. He would probably borrow his dad's rifle.

Jasmine answered on the second knock dressed in a loose fitting black dress, red heels and her dark brown hair was up in a messy bun. "Hello, Quil," she smiled, kissing my cheek. Unlike her husband, she actually liked me, finding me the perfect babysitter as I didn't complain once about her children or demand they come home early from their date nights.

Oliver nodded once at me as he fixed his red tie and sent me his signature 'I still don't trust you' look. He gave me that look every time I seen him.

"There's food on the counter," Jasmine said, grabbing her red purse from the stand near the door. "They've just been bathed so you don't need to worry about that. Claire should be tired in about an hour, and Nora has to be in bed by eight, at the latest," he waved her purse threateningly at me until I nodded. "Good. Night, Quil."

"Have fun, Mrs. Young, Mr. Young," I called as they got into their car. Claire's dad still didn't want me to call him by his first name and Jasmine was sick of telling him off, so she just went with it.

"Qwil!" Claire screamed excitedly as I walked into the living room. I scooped her into my arms and kissed her forehead whilst skilfully ruffling Nora's wild mane of black curls.

"Hey, Claire-Bear, Nora," I grinned. "How's it going?"

"I painted you!" Claire squealed, earning an eye roll from Nora as she turned up the television.

Claire shoved a picture into my face of what looked like a big blob of brown with a black streak at the top and a red, smiling face. I looked like something from a horror movie. "That's great, Claire-Bear," I smiled widely. "You're going to be the next Picasso."

I knew she didn't know who he was, but he smiled proudly anyway, so that was good enough for me.

"Mom's framed the picture of you with make-up on," Nora told me happily as I read a book to Claire. "It's in Claire's room."

Claire nodded definitely. "Qwil look pwetty!" she cried.

Humiliation bubbled up inside me but I bit it down and sent Claire a smile. From the constant teasing I had had from Sam since that day at the party, I was sure I looked like a deranged hooker. It had taken me three days to get all of the make-up off my skin (it was even on my legs, though I didn't know why) and I wasn't going to live it down for the rest of my life with the pack. Paul was still making period jokes when I was on patrol with him and Leah had laughed for an hour straight after seeing the picture and winked every time she saw me.

Nora joined in with the book after her show ended and talked about the woes of a six-year-old during dinner while Claire softly hummed the SpongeBob Square Pants theme tune. We settled down to watch the _Little Mermaid _after that and Claire fell asleep after twenty minutes and Nora was nodding off at around half seven. I walked Nora to bed and gently tucked her in before I settled Claire into her bed.

"Qwil," she muttered tiredly. "Read story." She haggardly picked up a book from her nightstand and handed it to me. It was the book I had bought her for her birthday that was a story about a friendly wolf that was best friends with a young girl after she moved towns. The pictures moved on some pages and the wolf's fur was always soft when he was drawn. When I glanced up after Claire's breathing became hard, I saw that she was snuggled into her wolf teddy-bear that I had also bought her for her birthday.

I kissed her forehead and began to walk out of the room to watch some manly football when something caught my sight. On the wardrobe was the picture of me in make-up. As I suspected, I looked worse than I thought, with bright blue eyes, bright pink cheeks and aluminous red lips. My arms were covered in muti-coloured paints and markers and my neck had a drawing of a green butterfly on. However, in the corner of the picture was a delighted Claire as she looked at me. Her lips were stretched into a wide smile, her hazel eyes were shining and she looked so happy, I realized something.

All the humiliation in the world was worth Claire's happiness.

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**Thoughts?**

**Sorry about the late update but my parents surprised me with a holiday and I had no access to the internet. Thank you for being patient and I hope you all enjoy this chapter!**

**Thanks for the reviews, favourites and alerts!**

**-Laylax**


	3. The Black pack

**Don't own anything except OC's.**

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**Chapter 3: The Black pack**

**Quil's POV. **

**2006, Claire three-years-old**

Everything in the pack had gone tits up.

Almost a month ago Jake had come back from Canada to visit Bella on her wedding night, which delighted not only Bella, but the whole pack. Jake, our beta and my best friend, was back for good, or at least that was what we thought. Jake went into a foul mood after finding out Bella was going to be turned into a bloodsucker when she came back from her honeymoon and stayed in his bedroom for a two weeks weeping like a little pussy. Bella came back from wherever the hell mind-reader took her with some exotic disease that was not only dangerous, but highly infectious. Long story short, Jake went to visit her, found out she was up the duff with some demon child and after Sam made a plan to kill Bella, Jake broke from the pack to protect her, taking not only happy-twat Seth, but bitchy Leah with him.

Sam was _not _impressed.

He had turned into Dark Vader, walking around with a permanent scowl, grumbling under his breath about stupid vampires and good-for-nothing teenagers, while also trying to keep the elders and pack-brothers (_cough_Paul_cough_) at bay. Billy hadn't said a word about it all, he just preferred to sit in his wheelchair and say "my son knows what he's doing" whenever someone asked him his opinion. Even though I knew Sue wanted her children back she wasn't complaining and shouting, either. My Grandpa just tended to glare at everyone when the topic was mentioned, so I didn't know what he was thinking about everything. Most of the guys wanted to kill the Cullen's, but didn't dare touch them in case they hurt Jake, Seth or Leah.

All I knew was that the pack was in utter turmoil and there was nothing I could do about it.

Jake was my best friend and I wanted to support him. Since the moment he left I had wanted to join his side (and I knew Embry did, too), but if I joined Jake's pack I had to leave Claire and that was too much for me to handle. Embry was seriously contemplating leaving, which was a big reason why Sam was making the guys keep a _very _close eye on him. The poor guy couldn't even piss without someone standing outside the door.

One of the things that made this whole shitty situation better was that I knew Jake was okay. Sam had sent a bunch of us to try and convince him to come back and though he didn't budge, he looked fine and even gave me his "take care of yourself, man" nods. He knew I would have been at his side if it wasn't for my devotion to Claire and that soothed my conscious a little.

I missed him, though. Not only Jake but Seth and Leah (gasp, horror, I know), too. Patrol was boring without Seth's constant happiness and jokiness, and it wasn't as entertaining without Leah's sarcastic comments that wound Paul up so much they made me almost like her. They were my brothers and sister and it made me realize I had taken them for granted when they were around.

Emily had asked for Claire and Nora for the weekend so I was hanging out at the Uley's. Sam wanted at least two wolves near the imprints at all times just in case the Cullen's decided to play dirty. I knew they wouldn't, but I didn't complain as I got to hang out with Claire a lot more than I did a couple of weeks ago.

"Does that look like a cat to you?" Rachel asked, holding up a piece of paper towards me.

Rachel had come home to visit her dad and Jake after finishing her course at the University. She had run into Paul on the beach and _bam_! He'd imprinted on her. Jake had been pissed about that, too, he punched Paul so hard in the nose it took our five hours to heal properly, which was a long time for our super fast healing bodies. Rachel hadn't liked Paul at first (who did?), but eventually she gave him a chance and now they were completely in love like Sam and Emily and Jared and Kim. Rachel was staying in La Push until Paul learnt to control his phasing and then they were going to travel together. I liked Rachel, having grown up with the Black family she was like the big sister I never had.

"No, it looks more like a horse," I answered honestly.

She looked at the brown blob again and shrugged. "I'll go with it. Isn't my horse good?" she grinned at Nora, who nodded enthusiastically.

"Qwil!" Claire giggled, grabbing every fibre of my attention. "Look wha Aunt Em got me!" she squealed, climbing onto my lap and waving a bag of seeds in my face.

"They're tulips," Emily said as she put down a plant pot on her dining table. "I promised her you'd plant them together."

Claire squealed happily again as if agreeing with Emily's words. Chuckling, I scooped her into my arms and carefully placed her on the table. Just as we Claire began to put holes into the compost, the front door opened revealing Paul and Jared who both looked miffed. Paul took a seat at the end of the table and put his head in his hands while Jared moodily kicked the table leg.

"What's up?" I asked in confusion.

Jared looked up from the table just as Kim floated to his side and gently touched his shoulder. "Jake imprinted," he answered sadly.

I didn't get it. Jake imprinting was the best thing that could happen right now. He could get over Bella and come back to La Push and the back where he truly belonged.

"And that's a bad thing?" Kim questioned before I could voice my thoughts.

"That brilliant!" Rachel smiled. "So can he come back home now? Is he here? Can I see him? Who is she? Is she nice?"

Paul stopped her and softly tugged her hand so she could fall onto his lap. He opened his mouth to explain, but nothing came out and he rested his head against her shoulder instead. Rachel looked up to Jared for answers.

"He imprinted on the baby," Jared explained further.

"What baby—" I began and stopped short when Jared sent me a look.

Holy shit, was that even possible?

"But she's part vampire!" I shouted out and Rachel gasped. "Is that even possible?!"

"Apparently so," Paul spoke for the first time. "It's the real thing, too, Sam said. Jake showed him through their mind link and it's a lot like you and Claire."

Instantly, I looked down to my imprint who was sat on the table cross-legged and staring at everyone in confusion. She didn't know what the sombre mood was about. I reached down and pulled her into my arms, she giggled and patted my cheek.

"Well, if it's the real thing there's nothing we can do about it, is there?" I concluded. There was no way, Alpha order or not, that I was going to destroy an imprint. If any one ever went after Claire...I couldn't even think about it. All I knew was that I would kill for Claire, and I wasn't going to crush Jake even if the baby was half-vampire.

"Is she—is she like a real vampire?" Rachel stuttered.

"No. Sam said she actually seemed normal," Jared gulped. "He's going over there now to see her and then he's going to tell us the plan."

"He's at the Cullen's?" Emily screamed from the kitchen doorway. "What the hell was he thinking?"

"Brady, Embry and Collin are over there with him and they'll howl if anything goes wrong," Paul comforted. "We offered to go with him but he said we were too likely to attack when there was nothing to attack over."

"Does that mean he can come home?" Emily breathed, "Does the imprint mean there isn't going to be a war with the Cullen's?"

"We don't know for sure," Jared shrugged. "But it's defiantly likely."

I couldn't stop myself from feeling excited about the prospect of my pack siblings coming home, especially Jake. The pack could go back to normal again if the imprint turned out to be okay and the whole dynamic could go back to normal. I could spend more time with Claire, I would have Jake back and Embry would stop being such a moody ass.

We waited in silence for any howl or sound of the guys coming back. Claire began to get restless after ten minutes so I continued doing the seed planting with her while we listened. Half an hour had passed when we heard the familiar pounding of paws against the ground. Jared, Paul and my head all swirled to the door, announcing their arrival before they even came into view.

"What's happening?"

"Is there a fight?"

Sam looked at each other our faces and then shook his head. "She's not dangerous," he clarified sternly. "She's...almost normal."

"Normal?" Paul exploded, making Rachel jump. "How can the spawn of a vampire be normal?"

Sam wrapped his arm around Emily and dropped a kiss onto her head before he answered. "I met Jake at the door and he showed me her. She just looks like a normal kid, except a little...freakier. She's not venomous, she loves Jake and Seth, and she even showed me that she had no intention of harming anyone."

"She _showed _you?"

Sam nodded at Kim's call. "Yeah, she has a vampire gift. She can show you what she's thinking by touching you and projecting her thoughts to you. She's a lot more advanced than she should be and looks more like a eight month old than a newborn, but she doesn't look like she's going to go on a killing rampage anytime soon," he chuckled as Paul let out a scoff. "It's a good thing, Paul, it means the pack can have harmony again and things can go back to normal. Don't judge her before you meet her."

"Yeah," Rachel shouted, suddenly angry. "If my brother imprinted on her she can't be that bad, Paul! Jake wouldn't imprint on a bad girl."

"Babe, she's a vampire—"

"Part vampire!" she screamed back. "And if my brother loves her you better be nice to her! Imagine if I was part fairy, would you love me any less?"

"You know I wouldn't, Rach."

"Exactly. Jake has been...understanding about you imprinting on me so the least you can do is try to be understanding about his imprint." With that, she went back over to play with Nora, defiance in her every step.

Paul sighed heavily and went back to holding his head in his hands. I kind of felt for the guy, but I was so happy about Jake being a part of La Push again I couldn't find it in myself to comfort him. Jared just went to Kim for comfort and they huddled in the corner together whispering so fast I couldn't pick up on what they were saying.

"What about Bella?" Emily asked quietly.

Sam scratched the back of his neck and sighed. "She's changing."

"_What_? And you're going to let them get away with that?"

"Jake gave them permission, Paul," Sam said in a hard voice. "There's nothing I can do about it. They got an Alpha's permission, which is all they needed. Now, you can fight that if you want, but it's no use because technically they broke no rules, so we'd be breaking the treaty our ancestors made for nothing."

Paul dropped his head onto the table.

Embry caught my eye from the doorway and grinned so wide I thought his face would crack. He winked, pointed to Paul and pretended to snigger at him, I couldn't help but chuckle. I planted the flowers with Claire and then read her two books before she fell asleep on my shoulder. I put her to bed, kissed her forehead and then made my way into the living room. Embry had vacated a seat outside on the steps so I joined in on the porch as he looked out into the sky.

"I'm going to see Jake tomorrow, do you want to come?" he asked as I took a seat next to him.

"Of course," I replied, glancing sideways at him. "What do you think of the imprint?"

"Weird," he shrugged, smirking at me. "But aren't all of the imprints? Sam imprinted on his girlfriend's cousin, Jared imprinted on someone he didn't even know the name of, Paul imprinted on a girl that hated him and didn't even know he existed, and you...well, only you know what's going on with yours." I punched him in the shoulder and he snorted. "Dude, all the imprinting is messed up, I think. You've just got to get on with it because there's nothing we can do to change it. I'm just happy I can talk to Jake again without getting the bitch glare from Sam."

We laughed and joked until ten when he went home and I went to sleep on the couch in Emily's house. When I woke up the next morning Claire was bouncing on my chest giggling like crazy. We had breakfast together but then her parents came to pick her up and take her home. After promising I would see her next weekend and waving goodbye as she drove off down the street, I met Embry near the outskirts of the woods.

"Finally," Embry huffed. "It took you long enough."

"Sorry, got caught up with Claire."

"Of course you did."

We walked to the treaty line and Embry howled loudly to indicate he needed someone. I heard someone jog from the trees and Seth appeared from the bushes.

"Hey guys," he grinned widely. "What are you doing here?"

"Hey, man," Embry replied, patting his back. I did the same and Seth grinned. "We're here to see Jake but we don't want to break any rules."

"Oh, he's at the Cullen's. You can follow me if you want."

We ran to the house and Seth told us to wait near the gates saying something about Rosalie not wanting us in the house. Ten minutes later Jake emerged from the front doors looking happier than I had seen him in over a year and a half.

"Hey!" he chirped (my God, had the world gone mad?), coming to a stop in front of us. "What are you doing here?"

He hugged us both and then stood back with sparking brown eyes.

"We've come to ask when you're coming back," Embry said immediately. "We've missed you, man, and now you've imprinted on Rennie—"

"Renesmee."

"—right, Renesmee, you can come back."

I tried not to look too freaked out by the name but I couldn't help send Seth a "what the fuck" look. The younger wolf shrugged, smirked and leaned back against the bush.

"Yeah, when are you coming home?" I added on excitedly.

Jake opened his mouth and then snapped it shut. After ten seconds he cleared his throat uncomfortably and shuffled his feet.

Oh, no, this couldn't be good. I felt my stomach sink.

"Guys, I'm not rejoining Sam's pack," he said finally.

_What_?

"Huh?"

Embry was never one for eloquence.

"I'm not rejoining the pack," Jake said, stronger this time. "I've decided to have my own pack. We're not going to fight against you or anything, we're just going to have our own way of going about things. Obviously, I'll still converse with Sam and make sure we're on the same page and stuff, but I can't go back to being a beta again and I don't want to take the Alpha position from Sam now he's so into it. Leah, Seth and I are just going to stick together and you guys can stay together," seeing our crestfallen faces, he sighed. "Guys, come on! I'm still coming to La Push, it'll be like I never left, promise. I just won't be able to read your dirty minds now. It'll be like nothing's changed."

We were all silent for a while and then Seth awkwardly cleared his throat.

"Fuck off." Embry scoffed loudly. Jake raised his eyebrows in surprise and I heard Seth laugh. "I'm not going to be in a different pack to you for any longer, Jake, sorry and all that. I miss having you to talk to during patrol, man, and to have you back means I have to leave Sam's pack and join yours, then that's what I'm doing."

"Embry—"

"Don't tell me not to," Embry cut him off warningly. "Because I'm doing it anyway."

"Me too," the words spilled from my mouth. "You're my best friend, man, we're sticking together just like we always have. Sam won't mind now he knows Ressmee—"

"Renesmee."

"Yeah, that she isn't evil and all that shit. He knows we miss you."

Jake rolled his eyes at us. "When did you two get so soppy?"

"It's Quil," Embry cried dramatically. "He's turning me into a girl now he's a whipped imprint."

I punched him in the gut.

"Shut up, Call," I snapped at him. "And we're not soppy, we're just...nice people. Try it some time, Black."

Jake snorted and punched my shoulder in a friendly manner. "I'd invite you guys in, but Blondie's being a bigger bitch than normal and she won't appreciate two extra wolves to smell."

"It's good, I don't fancy going in vamp paradise anyway," Embry sniggered. "Plus, we've got to go and tell Sam about moving to the Black pack. Man, that sounds cool."

"See yah later, Jake, bye Seth!" I called over my shoulder. "Oh, and tell Leah Paul says he misses her!"

I heard their laughter as Embry and I ran back over the treaty line and into La Push again.

That was how Embry and I joined the Black pack.

* * *

**Thoughts?**

**Thanks for the reviews, favourites and alerts! Hope you enjoyed this chapter and feel free to ask questions if you have any!**

**-Layla**


	4. Battle

**Don't own anything except OC's.**

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**Chapter 4: Battle**

**2006: Claire three-years-old **

**Quil's POV **

Yeah, so remember how I said shit about harmony in the pack and everything going back to normal?

I was wrong. _So, __**so**_ wrong.

It was all going fine for around two months, perfect in fact. Sam was totally fine about Embry and I joining Jake's pack, he said he even expected it since the moment Jake imprinted on Nessie. Bella completed her transformation and was so good with her thirst that she was seeing Charlie again. I was spending almost every weekend with Claire thanks to her parents wanting "alone time" a lot. Jake, Embry and I were hanging out during patrols like it was the old days again, meaning Jake wasn't depressed. Embry and I had even met Nessie and I could finally see what Sam meant. Apart from the whole being able to show people what she's thinking and growing more than twice as fast as she should, she was pretty normal. It was preposterous to even think of her as a devil child like we had been before. She was apart of the pack now.

In fact, things were going so good Paul and Rachel were even planning their around the world adventure and Paul was being taught how to control his anger better.

Then, like everything these days, shit hit the fan.

Irina, some woman from the "Denali coven" had saw Bella, Jake and Nessie hunting and assumed Nessie was an immortal child. Irina had run off to spill to the Volturi before Bella even had a chance to chase after her and explain. Alice had a vision the Volturi were going after Nessie, then Alice and Jasper fucked off into the woods leaving the Cullen's and the wolves to train for a full our war against a bunch of stinking Italian vampires.

All the happiness we had been feeling just stopped. Everyone started to freak out about our impending doom. Jake, who had already been fretting about Nessie's rapid growth, was now worrying about the possibility of the pack fighting, Renesmee being hurt and the Cullen's being killed protecting her. The Black pack were set against the Volturi and we started to train the day we found out about them coming. Sam had been told by Embry and I the next day and after talking it over with the guys, they also agreed to join us as Nessie was now apart of the pack. The imprints were mostly worrying about their beloved being killed, meaning there was a lot of crying coming from Emily, Rachel and Kim.

Claire, being the innocent angel she was, didn't have a clue what the hell was going on. She didn't suspect anything was going on with us and continued blissfully cutting off the heads of her Barbie dolls. I tried to spend as much time with her as I could, but between training, sleeping and eating, it was proving hard to spend time with her. And even when I did I couldn't help but wonder how she was going to cope without me. The older imprints said that they hated being away from their imprinter and that, after a while, it started to physically and mentally take a strain on them.

Would Claire have the same effect? Would she feel pain for the rest of her life? Would she even remember me? Would it be different for a younger imprint?

I had so many questions that couldn't be answered. The very thought of leaving Claire made me want to throw up, but the thought of her being in pain for the rest of her life was indescribable. I just hoped that she would find happiness if I did leave the world. All I wanted was for her to be happy with her life and that would make me happy.

The Cullen's began to ring in some favours and allies from all around the world. This was good and bad, good because it meant we had more people on our side, and bad because it meant more vampires were coming to the area and making wolves phase.

By the middle of December seven new wolves had phased, all fifteen or younger. We all had our hands full trying to calm them down, explain everything and then train them for fighting. Most of them had taken at least six hours to phase back to human and one of them, Aiden Winters, had freaked out so bad he had smashed Paul into a tree and snapped it in half. To give it to Paul, he didn't even attack the guy but simply rolled his eyes and muttered something about stupid newbie's ruining his mood.

Christmas came around and I had to spend the actual day with my mom and grandpa, though I itched to know if Claire was happy down in Makah. She and her family were coming down to La Push to next day to visit Emily and Sam but I was having a hard time waiting. I got some money, clothes and some posh trainers I had asked from before I had turned into a wolf. I was sure to shred them one day, but I didn't mention that.

The next day came and I ran around Emily's for one o'clock, the exact time Emily had asked us to be there for. Emily, Sam, Kim and Jared were cooking in the kitchen when I got there, the delicious smells off all the different foods made my mouth water. Jake was at the Cullen's with Nessie so he wasn't there, but the rest of the pack was.

"Hey, have a beer," Embry chucked me a bottle as I sat on the couch. "How'd yesterday go?"

"Fine, I suppose, you?"

"Mom got me a diary and said I should try and let all my anger out in it," he chuckled bitterly. "I still don't get why she wouldn't just accept that I can't tell her what's going on."

"You should, Em, she'd understand."

"Are you joking? She'd _freak_. Plus, she's a gossip, one day she'd 'accidentally' let it slip and then the whole damn world will know in about a year." Brady and Collin sat down as he finished speaking and Embry eyed them. "Should you be drinking that?"

Brady looked down at his beer. "Why not? We can't feel the effects anyway."

"It's like drinking beer flavoured soda," Collin added, nodding. "Which actually sucks when you think about it."

"We can't even get drunk now?" Timmy questioned in an outraged voice. "What the hell am I meant to do on a Saturday?"

"Study?" Ivan smirked, sitting on the floor and leaning against my chair. "That's always a good thing to do."

"Boring," Timmy scoffed, pushing Sean over so he fell to the ground on his ass, Timmy laughed and took his place on the arm of Embry's chair.

Aiden, the guy that had thrown Paul into a tree, shoved Timmy onto the floor, helped Sean to his feet and then let him take his original place on the arm. Timmy got up and glared at him, but when Aiden raised his eyebrows threateningly Timmy took a seat on the floor next to Ivan. I grinned at Aiden afterwards and he shrugged, disappeared into the kitchen and I heard him ask Emily if she needed any help.

About an hour after I had arrived I felt the constant tug of the imprint get stronger and stronger. I got to my feet and sat at the dining table with Declan and Ethan for a while until I heard the Young's car pull up into the drive.

"Qwil!" Claire beamed, thrashing in her mom's arms until she put her onto the floor and she could run into mine. She dropped a kiss on my chin and I laughed.

"Hey, Claire-Bear. Did you have a good Christmas?"

She nodded, making her ponytail bounce. "Yep! I got new dress," she announced happily. "And new toys."

Nora grabbed onto my leg and squeezed. "Hey, Nora, what did you get?"

"I got a new doll house," she smiled widely. "And some new sparkly shoes. Auntie Emily!" she screamed, running into Emily's arms. Jasmine and Oliver went over to greet Emily and Sam, leaving me and Claire to talk about her new baby doll she had gotten called Sally-Marie.

"Hey, Claire," Embry greeted, ruffling her hair.

She giggled. "Hi Unca Em!" she held her hands out for hands and tightened her fists impatiently.

Embry whipped her onto his hip and grinned at me. "I still say she likes me better, Quil."

I rolled my eyes. "Shut up, Embry."

Oliver still eyed me warily as I crammed as much hanging out with Claire time as I could into the few hours she was here. Jasmine basically ignored us though she looked over every few minutes to check that Claire was okay. Nora split her time between every member of the household, even the new guys who looked thoroughly awkward dealing with a six-year-old. Claire was basically stuck to my side all night, giggling and chatting away as we built a lego house near the backdoor. Seth, Sue and Leah popped by around seven, Sue went straight over to Emily and Sam, Leah went to talk to Aiden, and Seth came over to Claire and I to build the house with us.

I left Claire with Seth for a minute as I rushed to the toilet. On my way back I overhead some people muttering to each other in the kitchen in hushed voices that were easily washed out by all the noise coming from the living room.

"All I'm saying is that it's weird he spends so much time with her," I recognized Oliver's voice hiss harshly.

"Oliver," Sam's deep voice sighed. "Honestly, he's just trying to be nice."

"Yeah, too nice if you ask me. What kind of sixteen-year-old wants to hang out with two girls? It's weird, Sam."

"It's not that weird. Quil started out babysitting because he needed to money and now he sees Claire and Nora like his sisters," Sam said. "He wouldn't hurt them, Oliver, you have to know that. Quil would rather jump off a cliff than let anything happen to your girls."

"I suppose..."

"And if I thought something was wrong with him do you think I would have let him hang around Claire and Nora in the first place? Quil is one of the best kids around, Oliver, you wouldn't find a better person to protect your children."

Oliver grumbled something and I heard him stomp out of the kitchen and back into the living room. My ego had been peeked thanks to Sam's praises. At least my former Alpha knew I wasn't some weirdo. He trusted me and if people were going to listen to anyone, it was going to be Sam. He was highly respected in La Push, along with the rest of us, thanks to the elders making up some story about us being tribe protectors. It was true, though I don't think many of the inhabitants considered the fact that we fought vampires on a daily basis to keep them safe. They probably thought we beat up drug addicts and made struggling youths become helpful teens.

Oliver sent me strange looks for that rest of the night, a mix between confusion, distrust and wonder. When Jasmine announced it was time for them to go Oliver all but ran over and snatched Claire from the floor and into his arms. He looked really put out when Claire started to cry about not being able to say goodbye to me. In the end Jasmine had to run in and get me to say goodbye to her in the car because she wouldn't settle down until she had hugged me. I hugged her extra tight and long because, even though she didn't know, it might have been the last time she ever saw me.

The next couple of days I spent training to fight and running down to Makah to catch a glimpse of Claire before I fell asleep in the woods outside her house. Each time I mentally said goodbye to her, hoping and praying that she would one day find happiness with someone in her later life.

On the 31st of December the Volturi came to Forks with the intention of destroying us all. I stood with the Cullen's, their allies and my pack brothers and sister wondering what our fate was going to be and memorizing everything I could about each of them just in case someone died in battle. I couldn't hear any of the new wolves' heads, thanks to the tranquillity of Jake's small pack, but by the frightened looks on their faces I could guess what they were thinking.

Leah and Seth were thinking about their mom while saying goodbye to each other, Jake had said his farewells and good-lucks only moments before and then his mind turned to keeping Renesmee safe, Embry just thought about his mom and La Push, while all I wanted was for Claire to be happy.

_I'll make sure she is, Quil, if you go,_ Embry thought just as Edward stepped forward to be touched by Aro.

_Me too,_ Seth agreed quietly. Leah murmured her agreements, too, and Jake was so wrapped up in keeping Nessie safe he didn't know what the hell any of us were thinking or doing.

I gulped, _Thanks_.

Renesmee was taken up afterwards and we all growled at the sight of one of the imprints being handled by a bad vampire. Jake was in turmoil, he didn't want to anger the bad vampires, but he didn't want Renesmee to be out of his safety. When she was handed back to Jake relief washed over not only him but us all. I was on constant guard and just as I started to see a fight coming along, Alice Cullen appeared with her mate.

There was a whole thing with a half-vampire named Nahuel explaining about himself, how he lived and how Renesmee would turn out as she grew. His Aunt backed him up and I could see the Volturi getting more disgruntled with each passing second. Then there was something about a vampire named Joham, Aro said something and then Carlisle snapped back. With their noses stuck in the air, the Voltrui left.

Was that it?

Nobody moved for a long moment and I didn't relax my stance.

Bella whispered to Edward, he said something, and then Alice laughed loudly and said. "Seriously, people. They're not coming back. Everybody can relax now."

There was another beat of utter silence.

"Of all the rotten luck," a vampire a little ways down muttered.

Then it hit.

The vampires started to cheer and scream, the wolves howled in delight. Seth jumped up and down on all fours and grinned, showing off his sharp white teeth. Leah tackled him a second later, her tail wagging and she was growing playfully. Bella, Jake, Edward and Nessie were locked in a funny looking embrace and Embry nudged me with his nose.

_It's over, man, we're free again._

I quaffed loudly and whacked him in the side with my paw. Slowly, the celebrations died down and people began to leave. After two guy vampires ran out of the clearing, I nodded at the Cullen's and joined Sam and his pack as they ran back to La Push. Sam, Jared and Paul made a beeline for what I was sure was their imprints, Embry went home to get some steak, Jake went back with the Cullen's and the Clearwater's went to tell their mom the good news. I ran to Makah and didn't stop until I was in my usual spot near Claire's window. I could hear her gentle breathing as she had her afternoon nap.

Happiness burst in me when I realized that I would get to see Claire happy again. I could watch her grow up and choose her path throughout life and see all her happy moments. All I wanted from the world was for Claire to be happy, and I was going to get to see that for the rest my, and her, life.

* * *

**Thoughts?**

**Thanks for the reviews, favourites and alerts! It's a bit late because I went on holiday for a week. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and please don't be afraid to ask questions!**

**-Laylax**


	5. Imprint confusion

**Don't own anything except OC's.**

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**Chapter 5: Imprint confusion**

**2009, Claire six-years-old**

**Quil's POV**

"Hey, Claire-Bear, how was school?" I asked as she came out into the playground.

She glared up at me with her hazel eyes. "Quil, I told you not to call me Claire-Bear!" she whined, huffing.

"Sorry," I shrugged, a little hurt. "It slips sometimes. Did you have fun?"

"It was okay," she shrugged, taking my hand as we went to pick up Nora. "We painted and learnt some times tables."

"Sounds fun."

She laughed and looked up at me. "Not really."

I picked Nora up from her region of the school and put them both into my car. It was an old Ford car that Jake and Seth had fixed up for me when they were just starting their business. It had been two years since the Volturi left and things in the pack were going good. Sam and Emily had been married in an intimidate ceremony on June 2nd 2008 in the community centre followed by a reception in the banquet hall. Claire and Nora had been flower girls that giggled hysterically as they walked down the aisle and threw flower petals in people's faces. Later, I found out Paul had dared them too, which Sam had almost killed him for.

Paul and Rachel left in the summer of 2007 to travel around the world. Paul worked really hard to control his anger and finally got the hang of it in May time, a month later he and Rachel were in somewhere in Italy. They phoned someone in the pack at least once a day to let us know what they were doing and if they were okay. As of now, nothing had happened (as in, Paul had kept his temper), but we were still awaiting the day Rachel rings and tells us about Paul phasing in the middle of a French restaurant. They were somewhere in Australia now.

Jake had wanted to open a garage since he was eleven and had finally accomplished his wish. When Nessie was around one, Jake and Seth had been at the Cullen's house for the day when Seth saw Jake ogling the TV when a garage advert came on. Seth, being the overly-happy bastard he is, perked up straight away and convinced Jake to open a garage with him. Jake scraped some money together and Seth got his inheritance from his dad early and they bought a shop in Forks that took seven months to turn into a garage. By around November 2008 they were opened and rearing for business. It started off okay, they got regular Forks and La Push customers and the odd few out of town people. They fixed up the packs cars for free and even gave me the Ford that some guy donated to the shop after the engine shut down. Then a few months down the line they got a guy from Seattle into the shop after his car broke down on the road outside. They fixed his car in an hour, asked him for half the price somewhere in Seattle would ask for and Nessie gave him a free sweet.

Turns out that guy was some big-shot millionaire that owned around five companies, one of them being a very popular magazine. He dedicated a page to _Fix 'n' Go_ (the name a nearly two-year-old Nessie bravely came up with) and just like that business was booming for them. They had now expanded the business to Port Angeles and Seattle. They even employed some of the wolves to get them through college or if they needed some extra cash. Embry was now a full-time employer there.

Leah had left for Seattle to go to University seven months after the Volturi left. She was even in a relationship with some guy called Elijah now. She came home for Sam and Emily's wedding last June and had actually smiled _happily_ as they said their vows. We had talked for a little bit at the reception and she was going strong with Eli, loved her courses and was thinking about buying an apartment in Seattle with her best friend, Fiona.

Some of the new wolves had imprinted, some had gone off the college, some had done both.

As for me, I was just happy watching as Claire grew up. As long as she was happy, I was happy, and her life was good right now, which meant mine was, too. I still babysat Claire and Nora most weekends and during the week I worked at _Fix 'n' Go_ or played tennis with some kids at the youth centre.

It took us two hours to drive to Sam and Emily's, where the girls were staying for the weekend while Oliver and Jasmine went to visit some relatives in Seattle, which was spent playing eye-spy and listening to crappy kids songs that Nora and Claire gleefully sung along to. I hated the songs, but loved Claire's happiness so I just endured the torture.

Claire stayed by my side as Nora rushed to get inside Sam and Emily's house. They were hugging Nora when we walked into the living room and Claire rushed over to hug them before coming back to my side. I picked her up into my arms as I made conversation with Emily. Claire seemed to be enthralled playing with my hair so I let her carry on even though she was painfully tugging my scalp.

"Hello people of the Uley household!" Embry called, banging the front door open. "How's Princess Claire today?"

Claire sent me a look that was always associated with Embry. The "is he crazy?" look. "I'm fine, Uncle Em," Claire replied, giggling lightly.

We had just settled down to watch a movie after food when my phone rang. Claire peeked up from her place on my lap and gave me a disapproving look that made me chuckle.

"Hello?"

"Hey, man," Jake's deep voice echoed down the phone. "I'm ringing to ask if you want to come to the zoo tomorrow. Nessie wants Claire and Nora to come with us so she won't be the only kid there."

I held the phone away from my face. "Hey, Claire, want to go to the zoo tomorrow?"

"Really?! _Yes_!"

"She said—"

"Yeah, I heard," Jake snickered. "We'll pick you up at twelve—"

"I'm coming, too!" Embry screamed, rushing into the living room with a mouth full of muffins. "I love the zoo!"

"It's clear he belongs there," Jake said and Embry rolled his eyes. "Anyway, we'll come at twelve."

We said our goodbyes and Embry muttered something offensive about Jake under his breath as he went back to eat more muffins. Claire stood up on my legs, rested her hands on my shoulders and grinned happily at me.

"We're going to the zoo!" she sang loudly. "Nora, we're going to the zoo!"

Nora looked up from her Nintendo DS and smiled. "Cool."

That was all she had to say on the topic.

Claire practically skipped around the house for the rest of the night, singing and humming brightly. I was suddenly very grateful for Jake and Nessie. The next day I had to run home and change my clothes while Emily dressed the girls. When I got back they were ready and Claire was even bouncing up and down in excitement. I had just finished making sure Claire's coat was fastened right and her shoes weren't going to make her trip over when Jake pulled up outside, beeping twice.

"You were being serious?" Jake asked flatly as Embry climbed into the front seat.

"I like the zoo!" Embry snapped defensively.

Jake shook his head and turned to the back to greet Claire and Nora. Nessie was also sat in the back, Jake thought it was too unsafe in the front which I had to agree with, strapping Claire's belt in properly. She was only two but physically she looked six, while mentally she was probably smarter than Embry, Jake and I put together (though, that didn't take much). We gave Jake shit about it all the time. She waved at me when I caught her eye and then started talking to the girls. After checking Nessie had strapped Claire in securely, I leaned forward in my seat to talk to Jake and Embry.

It took a few hours to get to the zoo but the girls were so busy catching up that they didn't complain or fidget. When we finally parked up, Nessie all but flew out of the car before it stopped moving, giving Jake a near heart attack in the process. We paid in and Embry ran straight over to a large, open space that held some giraffes and hippopotamus'.

"Look at the hippo's!" Embry yelled, scaring a small child that was a yard away from him. The little boy ran off whimpering into his mothers arms. "They're so cool!"

Nessie and Jake bounded over to the other side that had an acre dedicated to the lions. Nessie began to raw at them and Jake laughed heartily beside her. Nora practically climbed up Embry to get a better look of the giraffes while Claire tugged on my hand and dragged me to the forest-like place that had orangutan's hanging from the trees happily chomping on some food.

"They're funny," Claire beamed as one stuck his tongue out at her.

I smiled proudly down at her and carefully adjusted her frame until she was on my shoulders. She squealed in delight, making my heart burst with joy. We all joined together again an hour later near the elephant sanctuary. Nessie was trying to convince Jake to let her jump over the railing so she could ride them, while Jake, looking pained, said no because humans would find it incredibly weird to see a six-year-old flying through the air at lightning speed. Nora and Embry were making jokes and laughing loudly, and Claire was gasping and screaming in joy as she pointed out all the animals surrounding us.

Lunch soon came and we all vacated to the food court. I had packed a tray full and went back to the table when I realized I had forgotten a drink. As I lined up to pay, I felt someone brush up against my arm.

"Sorry," a cute woman that looked around twenty smiled widely. "I'm such a clutz sometimes."

"It's fine."

"No, it's not," she smirked, flicking her hair. My eyebrows scrunched together as she knocked her leg with mine. "I'll get you a drink sometime to apologize, if you like."

Was she asking me out?

I glanced down at her again and took her in properly. She was cute, with smallish eyes and a tall, lanky frame, but I felt nothing. It could have been Embry flirting with me for all I figured. It was almost like I couldn't _see _her properly, even though I had supersonic eyesight.

"Um..."

"Quil!" sweet Claire called out as she flew into my leg. "What's taking you so long?"

"Hey, Claire-Bear," I said happily. Even just seeing her brightened up my mood.

She smiled at me but then caught sight of the woman and scowled. "Who are you?"

I blanched a little in shock. Claire was never rude to people, especially those she didn't know.

"I'm Trina," the woman smiled, clearly not sensing Claire's distaste. "And who are you, cutie? She's gorgeous, is she your sister?"

"No, actually—"

"I'm his best friend," Claire replied hotly, frowning.

"Oh, really?" the woman laughed breathily, clearing thinking it was a child talking crap. "That's sweet," she cleared her throat and straightened herself out again as she had bent down to become eye level with Claire. "What about it, then?" she smiled at me.

I looked down at Claire, who was scowling, then back at the woman. Did I want to go with her? No. Did I not want to because I felt like I had an obligation to Claire? No. Did I not want to because of the imprint? Maybe.

All I could safely figure out was that even if I did date Trina, I would never feel anything for her. I couldn't even imagine myself as dating Claire (the very thought made me a little queasy), but at the same time I couldn't imagine dating someone else.

I shrugged softly. "No, but thanks."

I gently pushed Claire in the back so she would move forward. She huffed and stomped off, I followed feeling slightly put out. What was with the reaction from Claire?

Embry was completely oblivious to anything that was going on as he had a food fight with Nessie and Nora, but Jake sent me a weird knowing smile and shrugged at me. Did he know something I didn't? Was he going through the same thing as me?

Damn, imprinting is confusing.

* * *

**Thoughts?**

**Thanks for the reviews, favourites and alerts! I love you all and hope you enjoy this chapter!**

**-Laylax**


	6. Being old

**Don't own anything except OC's.**

* * *

**Chapter 6: Being old**

**2013: Claire ten-years-old**

**Quil's POV**

I had been working on a car in the Forks garage of _Fix 'n' Go _when I got an emergency call from Jasmine to baby-sit Nora and Claire. Oliver's mom, Samantha, had caught the flu and had to back out last minute on watching the girls. Jasmine couldn't take the day off work and Oliver was already at his company, so I was called in as the last resort. This didn't bother me too much as I got to spend more time with Claire than in a usual week.

Over the past four years Claire had been visiting La Push less and less, much to my charging. Nora, now a fully fledged teenager, wanted to hang out with her friends on the weekends instead of visiting her Aunt and Uncle, which meant Jasmine and Oliver had to stay in La Push, and Claire couldn't come down without them. Before Jasmine and Oliver had let me bring Claire down to La Push myself as long as she stayed at Emily's, but since Sam and Emily had had their sons Claire hadn't been able to stay there as much. No matter how much I asked and how much Emily said it was okay, there was no way Claire's parents would let her stay with me for the night. Of course, I would have slept on the couch and her in my bed, but they were having none of it.

Still, Claire called me every night to talk about her day, her friends and ask what was happening in my life. On the weekends she insisted that I was the one to help her when she got stuck on some homework so I got to visit Makah about once a month, sometimes more when Jasmine and Oliver decided to have a "date night".

I dressed as quickly as I could and sprinted to the door, knocking loudly. Jasmine opened it looking frazzled. "Oh, thank God, Quil," she sighed in relief. "They're in the living room. I'm late as it is so I need to go. Bye!"

She waved over her shoulder and threw herself into the car. I heard her roaring off before I even had the door fully shut.

"Quil!" Claire shouted, standing up to hug me around the middle. Her head only came to my waist. "I'm so glad you're here! I convinced mom to ring you."

"I'm glad," I kissed her forehead. "Where's Nora at?"

"She's being moody," she rolled her eyes and plopped back down onto the floor, legs crossed. "I mentioned that her hair looked a little wild today so she threw her shoe at me and ran off to her bedroom."

"Did it hurt you?" I asked worriedly, checking her face and limbs for any sign of blood.

Claire laughed breezily. "Of course not, she missed. She's got the worst aim in the world, idiot."

"It's not nice to call someone an idiot, Claire," I scolded half-heartedly.

"Sorry," she shrugged, not looking sorry at all. "I'm stuck on a math question, could you help me?"

By the time we had finished her question sheet she had somehow ended up in my lap like she did when she was a baby. Her hair was longer and thicker now so it sometimes hit me in the face when she bent down to write on her paper. Her familiar kiwi and lilac scent comforted me and it made me miss her even more. We hadn't hung out much lately. She had been out with her friends a lot and I had to pick up extra shifts at the garage to help pay the rent of the flat I had moved into.

Seth, Jake, Collin and I had moved into the flat above the only coffee shop in La Push. It was owned by an elderly woman, her husband and their sons' family. They needed the extra money to keep the shop going and we had all been looking for a cheap flat for over a year. It was a big flat, surprisingly, with four decent sized bedrooms, one big bathroom, and a joint kitchen and living room. It was crammed with all of our shit (we had said we would sort it out during the first week we moved in. We had been there for five months and it was still a tip), but I loved it there.

We weren't the only ones that had changed in the past four years. Sam and Emily had a son called Tyrone who was just over a two-years-old old and Nathan who was seven-months old. Kim and Jared had married September 12th 2010 on the beach near the rocks and they now had a son, Landon, who was just over a year old. Paul and Rachel came back from their world adventure in January bearing gifts and wonderful stories from around the world. Oh, and Rachel was three months pregnant. They got married March 4th 2012 with the help of Alice's Cullen's expertise on the high cliffs of La Push. They now had a one-year-old son named Noah and Rachel was pregnant again. Ivan and Maggie were also married this year on May 23rd in the middle of the forest. They were now in the process of opening up their own restaurant called _Kendall's_ and Maggie was a couple of months pregnant.

But the most shocking of all, Embry was a dad to a one-year-old boy named Jackson. Only two years ago he had met Elle Natt in a club down Seattle and he fell in love, but did not imprint. He insisted that he wanted to be with her even though the consequences were severe and though I admired him for it, I also thought he was stupid, but I had always thought he was stupid. Elle fell pregnant four months into the relationship. Embry had been shocked at first, he apparently went to Jake in high-freak out mode (I was out with Claire), however, after a while he came around to the idea. He didn't shut up for a month after finding out he was having a son. He now lived in a house with Elle and Jackson near the community centre.

Claire had been growing, too, meaning our relationship had grown. During the four years our relationship had gone from brother/sister to best friends and I didn't even have time to realize how, why and when. One day she was my little sister, the next I saw her like I saw Jake and Embry. It was strange and fascinating at the same time. The most important thing, however, was that Claire was happy. She liked school, she had good friends, she was getting good grades. The only thing that made her sad was not seeing me enough and I was going to try and fix that soon.

We sat down to watch T.V. after finishing homework. Claire suddenly squealed girlishly and shoved herself forward to turn up the volume so loud it began to hurt my ears.

"Oh, he's _so dreamy_!" she sighed dreamily to the T.V.

"What?" I blanched.

"Look!" she screamed, pointing wildly. "Isn't he gorgeous?"

I looked at the television and saw a teenage guy singing while dancing with a bunch of good-looking women.

"Who is it?" I asked.

"Justin Bieber, Quil!" Claire snapped like I had said something terribly offensive. "He's only the best looking guy _in the world_!"

I didn't see anything special about him. He looked quite lanky and baby-faced and wore too much leather.

Claire tittered when I didn't reply and turned her attention back to the telly. I raised my eyebrows when Claire began to mutter the words along to songs while smiling happily. I'd never seen her act this before over a boy. She was ten, wasn't she supposed to be finger-painting and playing with Barbie's? She should still be thinking that boys have cooties.

There was a knock at the door before I could think further.

"I'LL GET IT!" Nora screeched before I could even blink. She bounded down the stairs and yanked open the door. "Oh, hey, Embry," she said flirtatiously.

Embry? What was he doing here?

"Nora. Is Quil here?"

"I'm here, man, what's up?" I asked, coming up behind Nora. She sent me a glare and then fluttered her eyelashes at Embry. Instead of humouring her like he normally did, he ignored her. Looking closer, I saw he had bags under his eyes and his body looked fatigued.

"Can I talk to you for a sec? I need to talk to someone...you're the only person I can talk too."

Nodding, I turned to Claire. "Can you go and play with Nora for a little while, Claire-Bear?"

She scowled at the nickname and my lips quirked despite the situation. Nora, sensing the seriousness, grabbed Claire's hand and chatted on about doing some hair-braid thing she had just learnt from school.

I led Embry to the kitchen, got us a beer each and sat down on the kitchen table waiting for him to talk. He jugged down three-quarters of his beer, sighed and looked up at me with tired eyes. "Sam wants to get a DNA test done," he said after a long beat of silence. "He wants to know if we're brothers or not now he has enough money to pay for one."

Shocked, I spat back the beer in my mouth into the bottle. "Why now?" I blurted mindlessly.

"Because of the kids," he replied simply. "He said he wanted to know if Jack, Ty and Nathan are cousins or not and now is the time to do it."

I thought about that for a moment. I could totally understand where Sam was coming from and it couldn't hurt to take a DNA test, could it? We could finally solve the mystery of Embry's heritage and a lot of unanswered questions would be answered within the pack. In fact, I couldn't think of a reason why not too. Why hadn't we thought of that before?

"It doesn't sound too bad, mate. You'll even gain a brother. Given, it might be Sam but, hey, something's better than nothing, right?" I joked, trying to lighten the situation. Embry didn't even crack a smile. "Why so down, anyway? It wouldn't be so bad to find out who your dad is, would it?"

Embry picked at the label on his beer bottle and I watched him curiously. "What if it turns out bad?"

"Meaning?"

Embry sighed and my eyebrows scrunched in confusion. "What if...what if the test doesn't come out like we want it too?"

I paused to think. "I'm not getting it."

Embry took another long swig of his beer and looked me in the eye. Seeing my gaze, he cleared his throat uncomfortably and wrung his hands together. "We all figure Joshua's my dad, right? What if he isn't? What if it's someone else? I could ruin someone's reputation if it turns out to be—to be them."

Then, it clicked.

He was scared because if it wasn't Josh, it was Billy Black or...my dad. My dad had died when I was only young in a freak boating accident and my mom still wasn't fully over it. I didn't remember much about him, but the memories I did have were good ones, mostly of him, me and my mom playing with toys, playing catch, fishing or watching birds in the woods. Billy was like a father to Embry anyway and I knew Billy considered him apart of the family, but Embry was worried about Jake. Jake thought the world of his dad and to find out that he had cheated on his mom before she died...would that ruin Billy in Jake's eyes? I wasn't sure.

"Would you be bothered?" Embry asked suddenly. "If it was your dad, would you care? Would you think any less of him?"

From what people had told me, my dad was awesome. He was a lot like my grandpa, apparently, straight-forward, blunt and so dry it was hilarious. He also had a loving, caring side, shown by his love for his friends, my mom and me. If I found out he had fathered Embry, would I respect him less? No, not really. Embry was like a brother to me anyway and it would be cool for him to actually be related to me. I remembered my dad as a respected, strong-willed man and even though he would have cheated on my mom...I couldn't find it in myself to disrespect him. He was my _dad_.

"No," I replied honestly. "He was my dad," I said shortly.

I didn't think that would be enough, I was going to cry if I carried on, though. However, Embry surprised me by nodding like he completely understood what I meant. Jack ran through my mind, the way Embry doted on him, how Jack gurgled happily when Embry was in sight. Maybe Embry did understand what I meant, but from a different point of view. From the dad's point of view instead of the child's.

"What about Jake?" he questioned quietly.

"I don't know about him," I answered, gulping down the lump in my throat. "But you're not just doing it for you, Embry, you're doing it for Jack, Ty and Nathan now, too, and any other kids you guys might have. I think you all deserve to know and if it turns out to be Billy or my dad...well, we'll just have to deal with it together, won't we?"

"I suppose," Embry nodded. "I've just been worried over the thought of destroying respect for Billy or your dad, you know? I didn't want to taint someone's reputation for something I could live without. In my mind, I don't have a father. My mom, the pack, Elle and Jack are enough for me."

"Just go for it, Em. We need to find out eventually, anyway. The sooner we do the better we can handle the outcome."

"Yeah." He breathed, gently fingering the torn up beer label. "Yeah, you're right," he said harder. "Thanks, Quil, I needed that. Now I have to go and talk to Jake."

We hugged quickly and then he ran out the front door. I watched silently after him, wondering what was in store for the pack when the DNA tests came back. I stood for a while just thinking until the imprint pull in my back reminded I was wasting precious hanging out time with Claire. She was in Nora's room sat on the floor while said sister braided her hair, Claire was on the phone, too.

"Has Embry left?" Nora perked when she noticed I was by the door.

"Yes."

"Oh," she sighed disappointedly.

Claire scrunched up her nose and gave Nora a questionable gaze. "Why do you fancy Embry?" she whispered, taking the phone away from her mouth for a minute. I could hear the other person on the line still talking.

"Why not? He's _hot_."

"Ewww! He's Uncle Embry...and married...and _old_."

_Old? _She thought Embry was old? Embry was only seven months older than me, did she think I was old? Damn, I was only 22, that wasn't old, was it? My shoulders slumped and my body ached like I was a hundred years old. Nora said something else, but I could hardly pay attention to her. I felt like pouting and throwing a tantrum.

Claire went back to talking on the phone like she hadn't said anything. She hadn't even meant to offend me, yet somehow she had. Patiently, I waited near the door until Nora was done with her braid. Claire immediately got up, thanked Nora and walked over to grab my hand and pull me down the stairs, still talking to the girl on the line. Fifteen minutes, a lot of giggling, and at least ten repeated "Shut _up_, she didn't" later, Claire came off the phone.

"Is Embry okay? He looked sad," she observed worriedly.

"He's fine," I replied and even though it was only a small, white-lie, it still hurt me to say it to her. "Just had a lot going on," I added when the pain travelled to my heart.

"Oh. Tell him I hope he gets better."

"I will," despite what we were talking about, I smiled. She cared about the pack as much as I did. "Who was on the phone?"

"Gabby."

Claire had talked about Gabby a lot since they had met when they were in kindergarten. Gabby was her best "girlfriend", according to Claire, along with a girl called Behati. When she wasn't hanging out with me, she was hanging out with them or sleeping over at their houses. I hadn't met them yet because Claire said she didn't like people interrupting 'Quil and Claire hanging out time', which I happily agreed to.

We contently chatted away all night and tried to make cookies, though it ended up more on us than it did in the bowl. Oliver came back around six and pretty much chucked me out of the house, giving me just enough time to hug Claire before I was shoved out the front door. I ran back to La Push with one thing on replaying on my mind.

Was I really old?

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**Thoughts?**

**Thanks for the reviews, favourites and alerts! You don't know how much they make me smile! Hope you all enjoy this chapter!**

**-Laylax**


	7. Flirtation

**Don't own anything except OC's.**

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**Chapter 7: Flirtation**

**2015: Claire 12-years-old**

**Quil's POV**

"Aura said she wants it on the beach so Alice is planning on making first beach a wedding haven for the day," Seth said, grinning as he turned to look at us all. He took a bite out of the muffin he was holding and happily munched away.

"I still can't believe you're getting married," Brady shook his head. "And to _Aurora_."

Seth didn't even look offended, he just shrugged proudly.

Collin looked like he was going to scold Brady, but then decided against it and leaned back against the counter. "It is pretty unbelievable, mate."

I felt the same way, only not because of the same reason Collin and Brady thought. I thought it was unbelievable because Seth was, well, _Seth_. I still saw him as a happy-go-lucky little shit that looked up to Jake like he was some type of God. I'd grown up with him, I'd been there when he started elementary, middle school and high school. I'd been there to comfort him when his dad died, when he got upset that Leah was leaving for Seattle, when he freaked out because his mom was exclusively dating Charlie Swan. Now, at 23 years old, he was getting married to one of the most beautiful women I knew.

Seth and Aurora were getting married in some lavish ceremony on the first beach of La Push. Having met just over a year ago and being engaged for four months of those, it was what my mother called a 'whirlwind' romance. It had taken only four months for the ceremony to be set to not only Seth and Aurora's tastes, but to the extravagant taste of Alice Cullen. Jake, James, Embry and I had been dragged around Seattle for three hours (it was _torture_) trying to find the perfect groomsmen and groom suits. Alice grumbled the whole time about if we weren't stupid dogs then she would have been able to see us properly, but then we finally found them in a small store at the edge of a long, _long _street. They were simple black suits with a white button-up, green ties and leather shoes that cost more than my car.

"Are you excited for the bachelor party?" Emily asked, coming into the kitchen with her two-year-old son on her hip.

"Definitely," Sean smirked, reaching over Justin to high-five Timmy.

"I just hope nothing is set on fire," Seth laughed. "Or someone ends up in hospital."

"That was once," Declan muttered.

We were shooed out of the kitchen so Emily could start cooking dinner five minutes later. Jake took Nathan from her hip and settled him on his knee around the dining table. A now four-year-old Tyrone was playing with monster trunks near the fireplace but jumped onto Seth's knee as soon as he could.

My knee bobbed up and down impatiently as I waited for Claire to arrive. She was being driven down by Sam for the weekend so she could serve as flower girl at the wedding and was really excited, though I didn't know why. Claire had been to her fair share of weddings over the years (the pack needed to calm down in my opinion), though I was glad she made an effort for each one.

She was twelve, almost thirteen, now and growing so fast it was scary. She didn't need help swimming anymore, she could go shopping on her own with friends, she was allowed to go to the cinema on her own. I still thought she was far too young to be allowed out without adult supervision, but her parents were completely fine with it so I had no say. Emily also said it was about time she was trusted with more responsibility, I disagreed. The first couple of times she went out I followed her through the trees (I felt more like a stalker than ever), then after a while I saw that she was actually okay and not going to get hurt, I left her. It worried me sick whenever she was out of sight, but through the imprint pull I knew she was fine.

The door opened half an hour after sitting down and Sam walked through with a bag on his arm. He nodded at us and then went into the kitchen.

"Quil," Claire beamed, appearing in the doorway. She ran over and into my arms, hugging my neck tight. "Hey guys," she greeted once we broke apart.

"Hey, Claire-bear," Seth smiled easily. He had become even happier (I thought that was impossible, but he achieved it) since he imprinted on Aurora. "Are you excited about being flower girl?"

"Yes!" she chirped, clapping her hands together joyfully. "My dress is _so_ pretty. And Alice said that she was planning a really good party."

Claire had gone wedding shopping with the bridal party a month ago to get her dress. I had made Nessie and Aura promise to keep their eyes on her while they tripped to Seattle. They had stayed overnight in a fancy hotel, had facials, massages, manicures, pedicures—you name it, they got it. Rosalie and Alice treated them all and Claire had come back so happy, I began to actually like the Cullen's. Claire hadn't stopped talking about them for a month and anything she loved, I loved, making the Cullen's near the top of my food list.

She plonked herself onto my knee and made fishy faces at Nathan and he giggled brightly. She put into the conversation when asked and whispered to me when she wanted to tell me something. I kept on eye on her all the time to make sure she was safe. Claire could be clumsy and always had a new scratch, bruise or bump when I saw her on the weekends. She never told me about them over the phone (she said she knew I would freak out), yet with each bump I still felt as horrible as I did the first time. I was made to protect her, even silly things like falling over at the park or tripping on the stairs.

Around three the rest of the pack, their children and imprints came around. After kissing Seth, Aurora scooped Claire onto her back and ran around the house with Renesmee laughing hysterically from the sofa. The girls were having their bachelorette party tonight as well. They were going for a fancy meal and drink in Port Angeles, where Leah was meeting them, and then partying in the clubs. Emily, Kim, who was pregnant again, Rachel, Audrey, Ethan's imprint and wife who already had a daughter with Ethan, who Declan had imprinted on, and was pregnant again, and Maggie, who had a daughter, Isla, were all just going for the meal and coming home. Well, that was the plan, but I had a feeling Rachel, Emily and Maggie were going to get roped into going clubbing. Claire was coming home with Kim and staying at her house for the night if Emily did go clubbing. Sam, Jared, Embry, Ethan, Paul and Ivan were all going home early, too, while the rest of us had the idea to stay out until late morning (I honestly couldn't see that happening) and then crashing in the hotel room we had hired for the night.

We hung out until later afternoon and then the girls decided to go to Port Angeles. Aurora looked far away from disconnecting her lips from Seth's and they had a hard job for them.

"Will I see you before the wedding?" Claire questioned as Renesmee began to violently pull on Aurora's arms.

"Yeah, I'll come and see you before you get ready," I answered.

"Promise?"

"Promise."

She jumped up to hug me and I squeezed her. We hadn't seen each other for two weeks, her parents had taken her to Seattle last weekend, and we were splitting up again. I could tell she missed me as much as I missed her. We had just stopped hugging when Nessie finally yanked Aurora away from Seth and they rushed out the door after grabbing Claire's hand. She waved wildly at me as she was pulled down the front yard.

Embry learned over. "You know, I technically Claire's Uncle."

My eyes widened in horror at the statement. God, he was right. I shook my head as I thought back to the day the DNA test arrived on Sam's door step.

_Sam, Embry and Jake were already sat on the sofas when I got to Sam's house. I had been down Makah watching over Claire when Jake had phased to tell me to get my arse over to the Uley place, the results were back._

_Gulping, I sat beside Jake and we shared a nervous smile. Even though I had meant what I said to Embry about not disrespecting my dad, the thought of my dad cheated on my mom made me queasy. _

_"Okay, shall we?" Sam asked, breaking the tense silence. _

_We nodded, he picked up the envelope that meant so much, it was ridiculous._

_My mouth dried as Sam unfolded the letter and scanned the contents. _

_A smile slowly stretched onto his lips. Looking down at Embry, he patted him on the back. "Welcome to the family, brother."_

_Embry smiled in relief and reached his fist over to Jake and I. Snorting, I bumped it with mine after Jake. _

_I felt the tension leave my shoulders knowing I wouldn't have to lie to my mom about Embry's dad. Word had spread around the rez about the impending DNA test and everyone was on edge, especially my family and the Black family, minus Billy who knew for a fact that he wasn't Embry's father. However, Jake and Rachel still had doubts, though I could imagine Jake was feeling guilty about that now._

_Embry and Sam hugged quickly. Jake and I left a second later, leaving the brothers to work everything out as a family._

I sighed, poor Claire.

The guys stayed for another hour, we weren't going for a meal, and then the dad's of the group had to drop their kids off at babysitters. Seth got changed at the apartment and then went to get the car from the garage. When he pulled up outside he had picked up James, Aurora's brother, so Embry, Jake and I climbed into the back. We were driving down in four separate cars and the groom's party was in the same car as Seth. We joked around and sang stupid songs on the way to Port Angeles and finally pulled up outside the bar we were meeting at.

We took up a big table at the back and ordered in some beers. It took a lot for wolves to get drunk thanks to our high body temperatures. We burned off the alcohol before we even had time to enjoy the taste. However, we knew from Jake's almost-crushed-to-death experience that if he consumed something in high amounts it could work on us. There was always a member of the pack at the bar ordering another round. By around nine (and twenty beers later), I was getting a little buzz. Brady ordered in some vodka shots that I downed graciously, along with most of the other guys.

An hour later we were ready to hit the clubs. I couldn't imagine what we looked like to outsiders. A group of massive, thick-built men walking around like we were in a gang. They probably thought we were selling drugs or something. Like I thought, when we entered the first club many people turned to stare at us, some in disgust, some in envy and some in interest, the latter being mostly girls.

Seth ordered another round of vodka shots. I kept them on repeat until I felt my brain and eyesight become a little fuzzy. Collin laughed like a little girl and ran onto the dance floor, waving his arms around like a lunatic. Brady followed, stumbling slightly. A group of girls dressed like fairies flocked to them and grinded their bodies into them. Seth and Jake pulled me onto the dance floor and I let the alcohol take over. The music in the club was making my eardrums pound and all the energy in the club was flowing through me.

"I—I'b had _waaaayyy_ to—too much," Jake slurred, resting his head on my shoulder as I ordered another round of vodka's. "N-Ness gunna kill me."

Jake looked about ready to pass out so I dragged him over to where Sean and Timmy were sat. Jared, Paul and Ivan had all gone home around half an hour ago, Sean told me when I asked. Timmy got Jake a water to sober him up and I took a look around the club. Embry and Seth were in the middle of the dance floor doing a disjointed chicken dance, Brady and Collin had ran into some guys from their college and were playing beer pong down the back, Justin and Ethan were doing the robot and were almost whacking people in the face, Aiden was practically having sex with a girl against the wall, James was making out with some girl near the bar, and Declan was drunkenly grinding up the dancing pole on the podium.

Obviously, we were a cool bunch.

Jake sobered up enough to have three more shots and then we went back onto the dance floor. I noticed a girl giving me the eye about two yards away. Through fuzzy eyes, I noticed she was tall and curvy with curly light brown hair. When she caught my eye, she winked coyly and motioned for me to join her.

"What's your name?" she screamed over the music, leaning up to rest her hand on my bicep.

"Q-Quil," I replied sloppily.

She grinned flirtatiously. "Hot name," she smirked. "I'm Marina."

Because of my clouded mind, I didn't mind when she started to rub herself against me. I started to think about how long it had been since I had been with someone like this and my inner horniness scowled at me. I had been fifteen the last time I had even kissed a girl, and at the age of 25 I was still a virgin. I had had a girlfriend before I phased and we had done _stuff _but we didn't go all of the way. Then I became a wolf and I had to break up with her, weeks later I imprinted on Claire and said girlfriend hadn't passed my mind since.

Oh, God, Claire.

I wondered what she was doing. Was she having fun, was she happy, was there anything wrong? Of course I knew there wasn't because of the imprint connection, but I still worried. What if the connection wasn't strong enough to feel everything?

Marina's hand started to travel down from my shoulders and headed downwards. When her fingers trailed across the hem of my jeans, my stomach churned. She reached up and crashed her lips to mine. Instead of feeling turned on or lucky, I felt quite repulsed. She tasted..._off_. It was like slightly out of date milk, it didn't taste disgusting, but there was definitely something funky about it. When the feeling got too much, I pushed her away and rushed back over to Jake.

For some reason, I felt like I had betrayed Claire.

Deep down I knew I hadn't. Claire and I weren't even close to being like _that _yet and, to be honest, I didn't know if we ever would, but kissing Marina still made me feel guilty. I knew Claire wouldn't like me kissing her, which would make her sad, which would hurt me because not only would she be upset, I would have been the person to cause it.

I stumbled over to the sofa near where the guys were sat and laid down, putting my hands over my face and sighing heavily. I was never going to understand this imprinting thing. I was never going to understand being a wolf. I was never going to understand fate.

I sat around the table for the rest of the night wallowing. Around midnight I felt myself sobering up and a headache began to form. Embry announced he wanted to go home so I offered to go with him. Embry fell asleep in the cab on the way to the hotel room we had ordered for the night for anyone who needed to use it. I dumped him on the bed with a snoring Declan and curled up onto the sofa. Claire's laughing face popped into my mind and guilt washed over me again. I fell asleep soon after, already dreading the hangover that I was going to have tomorrow.

* * *

**Thoughts?**

**Thanks for the reviews, favourites and alerts! Hope you enjoy this chapter!**

**-Laylax**


	8. Wedding

**Don't own anything except OC's.**

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**Chapter 8: Wedding**

**2015: Claire 12-years-old**

**Quil's POV.**

I was right about the hangover. I awoke to the sound of Jake retching in the toilet and the sound of Declan's snores. Embry groaned and rolled over onto his face at the loud sound, muttering something inaudible under his breath. Just as I registered that I was in a hotel room, my stomach churned and I rushed to the toilet, shoved Jake out the way and threw up. I copied Jake's movements of brushing my teeth and washing my hands before going back into the room.

We had just taken a seat on the sofa when Brady woke up gasping. He ran off into the bathroom and I heard him spewing, quickly followed by Collin.

"It's a good job you're getting married on the night, Seth," Timmy murmured from his sleeping spot on the floor. James chose this moment to run over to the bin and puke. "I don't think we would have made it for this-morning."

A half asleep Seth grunted from the floor.

It took us an hour to come around enough to go and get breakfast. I was glad for our super healing because it seemed to work on hangovers, too, so I was totally fine after getting a coffee down me. Aiden met us in the restaurant after getting a text from Sean. He had spent the night with the girl he had been making out with last night. Once we had all eaten and had a coffee or high-energy drink, we got ready to go home.

Seth had perked up from his hangover and was now radiating happiness and excitement as we walked to the Clearwater house. The guys had been shoved into the Clearwater household to get ready while the girls were just down the road at Connie Littlesea's house, which she had kindly lent out for the day of the wedding.

All of our stuff was laid out in Seth's old bedroom, which was now a guest room, so the guys went to watch telly for a while. I ran over to the Littlesea house to see Claire and keep my promise of visiting her. When I walked in the girls were sat in the living room, though it had been turned into a dressing room for the occasion, getting ready and laughing. Claire was getting her nails painted by Nessie on the futon near the window. Without making my presence known, I strode towards her and scooped her up into my arms like I did when she was a baby.

"Ah! Quil, my nail varnish!" she squealed, but she sounded more happy than annoyed.

I hugged her for a little longer and then set her down onto the futon again. "Sorry, Claire-Bear. I missed you, that's all."

She smiled softly. "I missed you, too, but you still don't need to smudge my nails."

"You're not allowed to be in here," Leah smirked, walking over with a glass of champagne.

I chuckled and brought her in for a quick hug. "Hey, Leah, how're you feeling?"

She snorted. "Old. My little brother's getting married, when did that happen?"

"I think you're a little slow, Leah. They've been engaged for four months."

She thumped me in the arm. "You know what I mean, idiot."

I sat down next to Claire and made conversation with Leah. She had opened up her own bakery in Seattle with Fiona called FairFood, it was doing well, apparently, and she had a few big events coming up for the summer time. I knew she had made the food for this wedding, Sue had bragged about it for a week, and her friend Fiona was finishing the final touches while Leah served as bridesmaid.

After Claire's nails were done she requested me to blow on them so I obediently supplied. She giggled as Leah made a comment about me looking quite the woman and then jokingly scolded Leah for her dig at me. Claire threw her legs over my lap as Leah painted her toenails the same colour as her fingers, an emerald green, and started talking about last night. They had wonderful food and Emily had let her have a sip of red wine. She didn't like it. Just as I had thought, Emily, Rachel and Maggie were roped into clubbing and Claire had spent the night with Kim, Jared and Landon. She had felt Kim's baby kick and said it was cool, but really weird.

Aurora walked out of the bathroom with Sue soon after. She had her golden hair curly and half pinned off her face. When she walked further forward I noticed she had small white flowers woven into her hair. "Oh, hey Quil," she greeted, smiling. "How did last night go?"

"Okay. Jake had a little too much, though. Actually, most of us did."

Nessie laughed from where she was getting her make-up done by Leah. "Oh, God, he isn't going to be complaining all night, is he?"

"No I think he sobered a little," I replied. "Though he might need some energy bars later."

"Just bite him, that'll wake him up," Leah muttered.

Claire rested her head my shoulder as I told the girls about last night, leaving out the erotic details for the sake of Claire. When I remembered about Marina, I threw my arm around Claire's shoulder and squeezed almost unconsciously. I was chucked out of the house by Sue when Aurora had nearly finished her make-up.

"Tell Seth I love him!" she yelled after me brightly.

I gave her the thumbs up sign, waved to a grinning Claire and sprinted to the Clearwater house. I jumped into the empty shower and scrubbed off remaining dirt before walking into the guest room in my boxers.

"Just what I wanted to see on a hangover, Quil half-naked," James snorted from the chair.

I blushed and hopped into my black pants while James sniggered into his beer. He was a weird one, cool and hilarious, but weird. I had just finished my tie when Seth came out of Leah's room in his matching suit. I couldn't smell alcohol on him so I knew he had taken a shower in Leah's old room.

Seth pulled on his black jacket and buttoned up the front before checking it out in the mirror.

"Do I look okay?" Seth asked nervously.

"Actually, your arse looks a little big in those trousers," James smirked, rolling his eyes. He had the same English accent as Aurora did and everything he said made me laugh. Who says "arse"?

"Mate, Aurora wouldn't care if you turned up naked for this," Jake put in soothingly.

"I think she'd prefer it," Embry sniggered.

"Ew, gross," James huffed.

"I hate you all," Seth declared, his face turning a little red as he turned back to the mirror. He retied his shoes and messed up his hair a little more and then took a seat on the bed.

"Aurora said she loves you, by the way," I recited. "And Leah said don't fall on your ass because they'll be people video recording."

Seth snorted softly and seemed to relax at my words. Embry had stopped checking himself out when Tiffany, Embry's mom, came in to tell us we had to make our way down to the beach. The wedding was set up near the sea with the sun setting behind it, thankfully. The whole thing was set up simply, but effectively. Rows of seats were set out facing the archway, the chairs had a white cloth thrown over each other and an emerald green bow tied around them. The archway was thick with lush green vines and leaves that had blooming lilies intertwined within. Down the edges of the aisle, around the back of the archway and around the seats were lit candles that give of a strong vanilla scent. I turned my head to see a large white marquee a little ways down the beach set up for the reception.

"Oh, Seth," Sue beamed as we took our place near the arch. "You look so handsome," she said, kissing both his cheeks.

"Thanks, mom, but you really need to sit—"

She attacked his face with kisses, cutting him off. Seth grumbled and pried her off of him, handing her gently over to Charlie who chuckled as he wrapped his arms around her. Elijah, Leah's husband, was sat with them with a video camera I was sure Sue made him hold.

"I think I'm going to be sick," Seth mumbled as the Edward began to play the music signalling the bridesmaids arriving.

"Please don't or I will too," Jake muttered.

Seth flipped him off.

Claire walked down first in an emerald green dress that had a thick tie belt around the middle, a little bit of a sweetheart neckline, and she had a holey cotton white shrug covering her shoulders. She threw the lily petals gracefully along the aisle and took her place at the arch. She looked over to catch my eye and I smiled widely at her showing her she had done brilliantly. She beamed and turned to watch as the bridesmaids came down. Nessie, Leah, Rosalie and Rachel walked down the aisle in a strapless, flowing chiffon, sweetheart neckline emerald green dress.

Rachel winked at me as she took her place beside Rosalie. Rosalie, for once, wasn't scowling and was smiling as Edward began to play the wedding march on the piano. She and Aurora had formed some bond over the past year, Seth told us, because Aurora needed a mom and Rosalie needed someone to be a mom to. If I didn't find it highly weird, it would have been sweet.

Aurora walked down the aisle with Emmett, who had called dibs on being her dad for the day, by her side. She looked even more beautiful than usual (and that was pretty damn hard) in a long net and lace dress that sparkled in the candle glow. Her net train softened over the sand as she walked and I could see she was wearing no shoes, just emerald nail varnish. When she turned to hand her calla lilies to Nessie, her maid of honour, the flower and lace bodice glittered.

Billy Black did the ceremony, like most Quileute weddings, saying most of the traditional stuff in English and then doing a special Quileute paragraph in our Native language. At the end he said a heartfelt speech about Harry Clearwater that made Aurora start to cry, along with most of the people in attendance (even Leah). They kissed for a lot longer than they should have after Billy announced them man and wife before running down the aisle together.

"That was so beautiful!" Claire sighed, joining my side and grabbing hold of my hand as all of the attendants rushed past to get to the reception. "Aurora looks gorgeous."

"You look better," I winked, chuckling.

Claire rolled her eyes, but I didn't miss the slight redness of her face. "Shut up, Quil."

The tent was buzzing with people when we entered through the drawn back curtain of the tent. The ceiling had draping curtains and was covered in glowing fairy lights instead of chandeliers. There were uncountable cream clothed circle tables, set around a square dance floor and stage, that all had plates and cutlery set on green placemats and napkins. In the middle of each table was a bunch of stargazer lilies and around the flowers were a few lit candles. The dark brown chairs each had an emerald green cushion on them. At the front of the dance floor was a stage were I could see Jasper, Alice, Bella and Edward crowded around a piano.

Seth and Aurora were called for their first dance as husband and wife to _Make You Feel My Love _by Adele. Afterwards, the wedding party were motioned to the dance floor by a demanding Alice so I grabbed Rachel and gently danced with her, making talk about her sons and primed her about going clubbing. She half-heartedly slapped me and I quickly dipped her, earning a scream of fright.

Nessie made me dance with her and then I joined Claire at Sam and Emily's table. She was playing with Tyrone and I watched as he giggled as she tickled him. He walked over to play with Noah, Landon and his cousin, Jack, some time later and Claire chatted about how beautiful Aurora looked in her wedding dress. Listening intently, I wrapped my arm around the back of her chair and laughed when she pointed out Sean and Timmy doing the robot dance. To the left I could see Nessie and Aurora slowly dancing together whilst giggling away, Rosalie and Emmett were making out behind them, while Alice and Jasper were twirling around the dance floor.

"Quil," Claire said shyly, twirling the end of her hair on her finger. "Will you dance with me?"

I grinned at her. "Yeah, come on."

She beamed as I took her hand, span and dipped her. We rocked back and forth for a while in silence, letting the music and happy atmosphere float around us. "I can't wait to get married," Claire sighed, lifting her head off my stomach and watching as Seth and Aurora danced, looking into each other's eyes and kissing like they were the only two in the room. "My wedding will be amazing. I just hope my groom is cute." She glanced up at me and blushed before letting her head fall onto my stomach again.

I looked at Claire's dark brown hair for a beat longer and then focused on Edward as he played the piano with Bella by his side. My mind ran to my wedding day, me stood at the archway waiting for my blushing bride. No matter how much or how long I thought for, I couldn't imagine Claire as the bride. My bride was faceless. Then it ran to Claire's wedding day, her dressed in a long white dress, her make-up done, grown up as she got her nails painted and laughed with a glass of wine in her hand. When I thought about her groom, he wasn't me, but he wasn't someone else, either. All I could see was the ecstatic smile on Claire's face as she put on her dress.

It made me wonder, would I be okay with her marrying someone else as long as she was happy? Obviously, I wouldn't try to stop or convince her otherwise if it was what she truly wanted, but what if I never saw Claire in a romantic light? What if we were destined to be best friends forever? I couldn't imagine me seeing her as anything other than my Claire-Bear right now. What would happen to me if she married someone else, had kids and went off to live in New York or something? Could I marry someone else? Could I start a family and have a home with another woman? How was I going to survive without seeing Claire every day when I missed her when she was even gone for an hour?

It scared me that I had no answers.

* * *

**Thoughts?**

**Thanks for the reviews, favourites and alerts! Hope you guys like this chapter!**

**-Laylax**


	9. Bouncing baby boy

**Don't own anything except OC's.**

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**Chapter 9: Bouncing baby boy**

**2017: Claire 14-years-old**

**Quil's POV**

"_But I would walk 500 miles! And I would walk 500 more! Just to be that man who walk a thousand miles to fall down at your door_—"

I slammed my hand down on the radio and growled threateningly. "Collin, shut the _fuck _up," I snapped.

He smirked widely at me. "Getting a bit angry there, Quilly? You may need to work on that."

Why oh why had I let him come along to Makah today? I knew it was a bad idea from the second I had asked him to come and he screamed excitedly whilst jumping up and down clapping his hands together. Collin had been my last resort to bring down to help Claire and I with redecorating her bedroom. Jake had been the first, but he, Ness, Seth and Aurora were shopping for the day in Port Angeles, also eliminating my second choice of Seth. Embry wanted to spend time with his seven month old daughter, Adrianna, so I didn't even ask him to come. Everyone else was busy and Collin was the only person free.

Claire had decided three months ago that she wanted to change her pink and purple room into something more "grown up". Her parents refused for a long time, but then finally agreed if I would help her. We had already been shopping for her furniture two weeks ago and it was getting delivered next weekend, the weekend before Claire's big fourteenth birthday slumber party. She was really happy that her friends were going to see her new bedroom, so everything with Collin was worth it for the extra spring in Claire's step.

"You've played it 25 times, Collin," I yelled back. "It was between shutting the radio off or throwing you out the car, so count yourself lucky."

He waved his arms around violently. "It's the best damn song in the world, that's why! You can never get sick of it." I glared hatefully at him and he retracted slightly. "Okay, maybe not never…"

It was a good job we pulled up outside Claire's house at that moment because I was five seconds away from ringing his neck. Breathing deeply, I grabbed the paint pots from the back of the car and ran up to the house to knock on the door.

"Hey, Quil, she's in her bedroom," Jasmine smiled, standing aside to let me through. "Oh, hello," she said to Collin.

"This is my friend, Collin," I explained quickly, eager to see Claire. "Claire asked him to come along to help."

It was partly true. She had asked me to bring someone as her best girlfriend, Gabby, was also helping us and she didn't want me to feel "left out". As I said before, Collin was the best I could find.

She shook his hand and then went back into her study room. I took the stairs three at a time until I got into her bedroom. Claire looked over her shoulder at the sound of the door opening and her face split into a wide grin. "Hey, Quil," she smiled, walking over to give me a tight hug. "And Collin," she laughed as he came into the room. "Did you bring the paint?"

"All four colours, Claire-Bear," I winked.

She flushed bright red and picked at the end of her top. "Thanks," she mumbled, rushing back over to the wall. Confused, I watched her as she tied her hair into a high bun on the top of her head. Was she okay? "Oh, guys, this is Gabby, Gab, this is Quil and Collin."

The girl looked around the same age as Claire and had long, wavy brown hair tied back in a high ponytail. She turned to wave at us and I saw she had big, almond-shaped green eyes. Her skin was the same colour as Claire's, a dark, smooth cream. "Hey," she greeted.

I smiled at her and turned to tell Collin to be nice, but he was looking at her like she was a priceless diamond. Raising my eyebrows, I clicked my fingers in his face. He didn't even blink. I opened my mouth to yell at him, then it hit me. He'd imprinted on her. Collin Littlesea, annoying shit extraordinaire, had imprinted on Claire's best friend.

That son of a bitch.

Gritting my teeth, I thumped him in the back a little harder than I intended and he fell five feet forward. He looked around like a lost puppy for a second before his eyes landed back on Gabby. "I'm Collin," he breathed softly.

"Gabriella, but call me Gabby," she replied kindly.

Claire sent me a freaked out look from just beside Collin and I shrugged like I didn't know what was going on. Claire was still too young to know what was going on with the tribe and the fact that I had...a fury problem. It was my job to protect her and putting her in danger with angry vampires wasn't going to happen for a very, _very _long time. Not only that, but if I told her I didn't know how she would react to the news and I didn't want to risk her not speaking to me. One day I would tell her, I knew I would, but I didn't have a planned date.

Claire was growing up though, it was easy to see. She was taller, her face had lost its childish roundness, from hugging her, I knew she was getting a waist, and she had a slight swing when she walked. The changes weren't just clear in her physical wise, but mentally, too. She was smarter and was finding herself properly. She was figuring out who and where she wanted to go in life. By certain situations and the way the acted in them I knew she was getting older, and I didn't know whether I was happy or sad.

I missed the days she would tell me everything about boys and talk to me about her crushes. Whenever I mentioned a boy now, she would just blush and tell me she wasn't talking to me about boys. She no longer needed my help on homework or reaching the top cupboard in the kitchen. I still wanted to do those things for her, but she wouldn't let me. She was more independent now and even though I was extremely glad she was happy and finding herself, I missed doing odd small jobs for her that made me feel like I had accomplished something in life by making her smile.

"Man, act cool or you'll freak them both out," I hissed into Collin's ear as I passed.

He cleared his throat loudly, ran a hand through his hair and then turned to pick up a paint brush from the floor.

Shaking my head, I picked up the yellow paint, Claire's favourite colour and what she was painting her room in, and poured it into the paint tray. "How's school, Claire?" I asked as I rolled the roller through the paint.

"It's okay. Bigger and harder, but nothing I can't handle," she replied, leaning against the wall as I applied the paint. "Do it neat, Quil. According to my mom this is going to be my bedroom until I move out."

"Is Nora still doing the stencils?"

"Yeah. I said she could borrow my clothes anytime she wanted if she did them for me."

"Bribery, I've taught you well," I chuckled.

We talked for a long while longer and I tried to keep track of Collin with my sensitive ears. He was making small talk with Gabby and trying to act cool, but failing terribly. He even stepped into the paint and fell over at one point. Gabby didn't seem to find it incredibly embarrassing like I did, she was laughing happily and painted a flower on his cheek with the white paint she was using to do the one wall Claire wanted that colour. Claire picked up a paint brush about an hour in and began applying to the wall beside me. Her bedroom was only small so it was easy for us to keep up conversation.

We paused to get lunch at around two. Jasmine was still in her study writing reports for her work, Oliver was at work and Nora was around her boyfriends, so the house was quiet. Just as I had finished my fourth bowl of pasta, my phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Quil," Seth said sounding quite panicked.

"Everything alright, Seth?" I questioned, immediately alert at the tone of his voice.

"Not really. Aurora's gone into labour."

Collin, who had heard with his sensitive ears, perked up and devoured the last of his pasta. "Oh, shit," I said, thinking of them being in Port Angeles. "Where are you now? Do you need me to come and get you?"

"No, but I need you to call Carlisle and get him to go to the Cullen house as soon as he can," he ordered with a long, haggard breath. "She's not that far along, I don't think, but this is the first hybrid pregnancy we know of so we don't know what's going to happen. We're coming home now but none of us have our cell-phones and I'm borrowing some random woman's phone to call you. Thanks for that, by the way," his voice muffled a little like he had taken the phone away from his mouth.

"I'm calling him now, Seth."

"Thanks man."

I hit the button and quickly searched for Carlisle's number in my phone. I found the Cullen's home number and rang. "Hello?" a bored voice huffed.

"Rosalie? Can you put Carlisle on?"

"Sure. Carlisle, Quil needs you!"

"Hello, Quil, what can I do for you?" the Doc asked seconds later.

"Aurora's gone into labour and Seth needs you to set up in the Cullen's house," I explained hurriedly. "He's on his way from Port Angeles now and he said he doesn't think she's that far along, but you don't know what this pregnancy is like."

"I estimated she had another month to go," he murmured almost to himself. "Okay. I'll get my things and then I'll go down straight away."

"I've got them ready!" Bella screamed from somewhere in the background.

After saying our goodbyes, I flicked the phone shut and turned to Claire, Gabby and Collin. "Fancy going to wait for Aurora to have her kid?" I asked so calmly it was almost comical.

Claire squealed and jumped up from her seat in excitement, but stopped short. "Can you come?" she asked Gabby worriedly.

"My parents think I'm staying here anyway. It won't make a difference," she shrugged.

"Awesome!" Claire beamed, running to the study to tell her mom. Collin went to start the car up as I waited for the girls to put on their shoes and coats.

We made it back to Forks in just over an hour. Collin made us stop off at the shop for some energy bars, drinks and some sweets before we went to the Cullen's house. The Cullen's must have transported back because they were already there judging by the strong smell of vampires. The Cullen's had moved away from Forks two months after Seth and Aurora's wedding to Abbotsford, a town near the border of Alaska. Edward and Bella often came down to Forks to see Jake, Nessie and Charlie, but they had to come in disguises made by Alice. Jake, Ness, Seth and Aurora lived in the Cullen's house now, though Jake and Ness recited at the cottage on a night for privacy. Aiden and Brady had taken their places in the apartment.

"Hey guys," Alice sighed as we walked into the living room. She was sat on the sofa rubbing her head like it was hurting. Was that even possible for a vampire? They couldn't get the flu, could they?

"Aurora's nearly back," Jasper told us from his place beside his wife. "She's about fifteen minutes away now."

We took a seat on the other sofa and turned on the telly to watch a football game. Emmett joined us, muttering something about Edward chucking him out of the room for being annoying. I could hear Carlisle, Rosalie, Bella and Edward upstairs messing on with what was sure to be hospital equipment. Esme was in the kitchen making some brownies that she gave to Claire and Gabby after they came out the oven.

Jasper was right about them being close. The car pulled up outside exactly fifteen minutes later. Jake and Nessie walked through the door first and joined us on the sofa with slightly amused and scared looks on their faces. Seth and Aurora toddled after them, Seth looked like he was about to pass out and Aurora looked totally fine and collected.

"Hey guys!" she chirped when she seen us, rubbing her bump. "What are you doing here?" she asked as Claire hugged her.

"We're here to see the baby," Claire giggled gleefully. "Gabby, this is Aurora and Nessie, my kind-of older sisters. That's Jake and Seth, their husbands," she introduced.

Aurora hugged Gabby gently before handing her over to Nessie who kissed her on the cheek. They had figured out Collin had imprinted on her, no doubt by the way he was keeping an eye on her not-so-sneakily. Damn, I hoped I didn't look like that when I looked at Claire.

"Oh, Aurora," Rosalie breathed, running down the stairs. "How are you feeling?"

"Brilliant," Aurora answered cheerfully. "I can't say the same for Seth, though. Is there something you can give him so he doesn't faint on me?"

"Yes. A slap," Rosalie replied sweetly.

Aurora laughed, but cut short and grabbed her stomach in pain, taking deep breaths through her nose and out her mouth. Rosalie rubbed her back until it was over and then worriedly ushered her upstairs. Seth stayed down looking severely pale and gaunt.

"Damn, Seth, you're acting like you're the one in labour," Emmett sniggered.

Seth blinked at him. "What?" he asked blankly.

"Why are you so freaked out?" I asked, patting him on the back. "Your kid's on the way, man."

"_That's_ why I'm so freaked out," he replied in a nervous voice. He glanced towards the stairs and leaned in closer to whisper. "This is the first pregnancy like this and no one knows what's going to happen, that's why everyone's so weird right now. What if it turns out like Nessie's? I can't—she can't," his voice broke off.

I finally understood his worry and grabbed his shoulder in comfort. "She'll be fine, Seth. She would be in a lot worse state if it was going to be a hard labour."

"But she's only been pregnant for just over four months—"

"She'll be fine," Jake joined in, thumping him on the back gently. Well, gently for him, it still made a hard smacking sound. "You just need to go in there and support her, she'll be pissed if you don't."

"Yeah, yeah, you're right," he took a deep breath. "Could you call my mom…and Leah...and Emily…and—"

"We'll call everyone in our phone book," Collin promised. "Now go, idiot, before _I _bite your head off."

Seth jogged up the stairs and into Edward's room, the room they were using for this. Collin, Jake and I kept our promise and rang everyone we could think Seth would want to know. Sue and Charlie turned up soon after we rang them, and Leah promised to get down as soon as she was out of work. James, who was now off travelling the world, requested Aurora ring him as soon as she could.

"Do you think it's a boy or a girl?" Claire asked, her head in my lap as I stroked her hair. She was still in the clothes she had been painting in, black yoga pants and a too big orange top with the words 'Love. Peace. Respect. Hope.' in large block letters. She had abandoned her ballet shoes and I could see her muti-coloured toenails, and yellow paint on her arms, face, hair and the bottoms of her legs. How she had managed that, I didn't know.

"Don't know, what do you think?"

"Boy. I have a feeling," she grinned cheekily. "Collin and Gab seem to be getting on well," she commented, trying to sound casual. Underlined in her voice I could tell she was a little curious and freaked out.

"That's a good thing, right?" I said, hoping she didn't say a bad answer. If this imprint was like the others Collin was going to be spending a lot of time with Gabby now, and I didn't want Claire to get upset and loose her best girlfriend over this.

"I suppose," she lowered her voice. "It's just a little weird how they're so chummy after only a few hours, don't you think? Gabby's never usually like this with strangers."

"They have a bond, I guess."

"And there's a big age gap between them, isn't there?"

"We do too, Claire-Bear," I reminded her.

Her eyes went thoughtful after that and she relaxed a little more, though I could see her shooting glances at Collin and Gabby from the corner of her eyes. We only had to wait two hours before there was a loud groan heard from above followed by a crying baby. Sue let out a watery laugh and Claire grabbed my arm in anticipation. Everything was silent for a long while until the room door opened and Seth came out.

"It's a boy!" he announced proudly.

Cheers and congratulations burst from everyone. I hugged Seth and patted him on the back, followed by the other guys. Nessie kissed Seth on the cheeks and then rushed upstairs to see Aurora. Seth said the baby was getting cleaned up and Aurora was having a bath. We had to wait another 45 minutes until people could go upstairs. The room had been cleaned when we got in, all traces of hospital stuff had been shoved into the cupboard and Aurora was sat up on a bed with the baby, dressed in a little blue baby grower, in her arms. She didn't look like she had just given birth. She was in a flowing black dress to her knees, her hair was in a high ponytail and there were no signs of strain or sweat on her face.

Seth sat on the bed next to her, kissed her lips and then the baby's head. "Mom, come meet your grandson," he requested. Sue sniffed and took small steps forward until she was in front of Aurora and being handed the baby.

I rested my arms on Claire's shoulders and put my chin on top of her head and she sent me a wide smile.

"What's his name?" Nessie asked from the end of the bed.

Seth and Aurora shared a look. "Um, we were thinking of calling him...Harrison James Clearwater," Seth said quietly. "Or Harry, for short."

"That is if you don't mind, Sue," Aurora added hastily. "We totally understand if you do."

Sue chuckled and looked down to the gurgling baby in her arms. "He looks like a Harry," she whispered. "I love it."

Claire sighed dreamily. "He's adorable."

"He defiantly is, Aunt Claire," Aurora winked.

Claire giggled joyfully. "Aunt Claire, that's so cool."

"Here, you can hold him," Sue whispered through what sounded like a thick throat. She carefully manoeuvred him into her arms and Claire kept tight hold, but I hovered just in case. Sue went back over to Seth and Aurora to hug them and then sat on the end of the bed with Nessie.

"I'm going to be the best Aunt ever, Harry," Claire cooed to the baby that looked so much like Seth it was scary. The only difference was that's Harry's skin was a few tones lighter than Seth's.

"Damn, Seth, he's the carbon copy of you," I told him.

Jake leaned over Claire's shoulder and snorted a little. "Are you sure this isn't just a clone of Seth?"

"Oh dear God there's two of them," Collin muttered after looking at the baby.

Seth rolled his eyes at him. "You're privileged to have two of me," he joked. "Feel incredibly lucky."

"Or unlucky, depending on how you look at it," I joked lightly.

Claire and I cooed over the baby for a little longer until Jake demanded a hold of Harry. Harry was small anyway, but in Jake's arms he looked tiny. Sue chuckled at the sight and brought out a camera from deep within her bag to snap a picture. Harry was passed around like a new toy for an hour before he landed back in Sue's arms gurgling loudly.

"Are you going to let me baby-sit?" Claire asked excitedly, jumping onto the bed beside Nessie.

"If you want to," Aurora grinned. "Could you handle a crying baby?"

"I'll have Quil with me. I can handle anything," Claire said flippantly.

My heart burst in happiness that she thought so much of me. My cheeks started to ache from smiling so much, but I didn't care. It was good to know that even though she was growing up and becoming more independent, she still thought so much of me.

We stayed for another three hours and left just after seeing Leah take Harry into her arms and shed a few tears. The rest of us left to let the Clearwater family have a moment together, plus I had to get Claire and Gabby back to the Young house.

"I'll come by tomorrow," I said as I kissed Claire on the forehead. She still let me do that without complaining, though I wasn't allowed to hug her and spin her around anymore. "We'll finish the bedroom, promise."

She nodded and smiled at me before pulling Gabby out of the car. Gabby turned back and waved at us, though I was sure it was aimed more at Collin than me.

"I can't believe I imprinted," Collin breathed dreamily. "Isn't she amazing? She's so smart and happy and bright and—"

"Yeah, I get it," I interrupted, knowing he would go on forever if I didn't stop him. "Congratulations, I'm happy for you, man."

"Thanks." He smiled at me with a dazed expression.

I shook my head and carried on speeding down the road. I had a feeling Collin would be visiting Makah with me a lot more.

* * *

**Thoughts?**

**Thank you for the reviews, favourites and alerts! Hope you like the chapter!**

**There were some questions in the reviews, hope I answer them all! Aurora is Seth's imprint and half-vampire, she was Nahuel's 'date' to Jacob and Nessie's wedding and met Seth at the reception. I actually have a one-shot written about them but I didn't think anyone would be interested, if you are please tell me and I'll post it! **

**Also, yes Claire's POV is in the story (chapter 12) but I waited until she was older because doing a child's POV proved to be difficult when I tried. But later there will be a lot more of her POV.**

**Please ask any questions you have! I hate being confused during a story that I'm reading, so make sure to ask!**

**-Laylax**


	10. Maturing

**Don't own anything except OC's.**

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**Chapter 10: Maturing**

**2017: Claire 14-15**

**Quil's POV.**

"Hey, we did a good job, didn't we?" I asked as I walked into Claire's reformed bedroom. The room had been complete for a week and a half but I hadn't been able to come down to see it due to Claire having her 14th birthday slumber party last weekend. Oliver and Jasmine had let ten teenage girls sleep for the night and I could quite easily say I had not envied them.

The room was now yellow and white instead of baby pink and purple. Her new double bed had arrived, taking up much more room than her previous single bed had. Claire had opted to have two thin white curtains that she could pull around her bed for privacy when she was sleeping. She now had a study desk and a yellow chair against the wall filled with school work and hair accessories, while two white coloured shelves settled above filled to the brim with all of Claire's junk. Like Nora had promised, there were stencils of funky looking flowers just above the head of the bed.

"Yeah, I love it," she nodded, taking a cushion from the bed and hugging it to her chest. She looked a little nervous about something and every time she looked at me, she blushed. I had been here for fifteen minutes and she had yet to look me in the eye.

"Did you enjoy your birthday party?" I tried to ease the tension that was settling in the room.

"Oh, it was really fun! We had a pillow fight and Behati broke a lamp in the living room," she giggled lightly. She looked up to smile at me, but then quickly retracted when I smiled back. Sighing, I settled onto the end of her bed and stared at her for a while.

"Claire, what's going on? You're acting a little strange. Is there something wrong?" I asked worriedly.

Claire cleared her throat uncomfortably and twirled a thick chunk of her hair around her finger. "Nothing's _wrong_," she stressed. The free hand she had fiddled with the end of her pillow. "But the girls and I were talking at the sleepover and Gabby mentioned you being my best friend and obviously I said it was true," she scoffed like that was a world-wide fact. "But then Mia mentioned..._something _and I wondered if you had done it because Nikki said you would have—"

"Claire, what is it?" I asked, a little amused by her ranting.

"Have you ever had sex?" she blurted, her face turning bright red.

"What?" I blanched, my voice catching a little in my throat.

She shuffled awkwardly. "Have you ever had sex?"

I was too shocked to even think straight, never mind say anything back to her, which was why I was left gaping like a fish for at least three minutes. When did my Claire-bear find out about _sex_? Shouldn't she still be playing with Barbie's and playing with colouring books? She was far too young to know about sex. She shouldn't even know what kissing means.

"Quil, are you okay?" Claire questioned anxiously after I stayed silent.

"Mmhmm," I mumbled about ten octaves higher than my normal voice. "Where—where did you learn that?"

"What?"

"You know, _that_."

Claire's eyebrow's scrunched together. "Sex?" she wondered, cocking her head to the side. "From sex ed," she muttered. "They teach you it at school. We were talking about it at the slumber party and I just wondered about you because you're, you know, older than I—we are."

"No," I answered honestly. Lying to her wouldn't work out, anyways, so truth was the only way out of this one. Unless I jumped out the window...

"You haven't," she gasped, eyes wide. "_Why_? Nora said all guys love sex!"

"She what?" I cried, getting more horrified by each passing second. Now Nora knew about sex? "Oh, God," I sighed, dropping my head into my hands. "I—I've been waiting for the right person," I whispered in answer to her question. I knew I had promised to answer anything she wanted to ask, but this was crossing some kind of line. "And I've never really been interested in…_doing it_."

"Oh." She nodded, looking far away in dreamland. Then her lips split into a broad, happy smile. "Oh, okay. I just wanted to ask, you know? I was curious cuz Nora talked to me—"

"Yeah, yeah, I get it," I held out my hand, feeling a little sick. "It's fine. You can always—always ask me anything, Claire-Bear."

She looked ecstatic, a lot more ecstatic than she should about finding out I was a 27-year-old virgin.

"Thanks, Quil," she chirped, jumping up on her knees to give me a brief hug. "Want to watch a movie?"

I nodded blankly and leaned back against the wall. Claire shuffled up beside me and leaned her head against my shoulder, laughing at parts of the movie that weren't even that funny. She seemed ten times happier than normal, which meant she was acting like Seth on drugs. By the time the movie ended my mind was in turmoil so I bid goodbye to Claire and rushed home in wolf form. No one was phased, thank God, so I had some time to think.

I felt like I'd been hit in the head with a sledgehammer.

When had Claire gotten to the point when she was wondering about sex? When had she started talking to Nora and her friends about it? Also, why were her friends talking about my (lack of) sex life in front of her? Did this mean that she was thinking about having sex? Did she have a boyfriend I didn't know about?

Before I knew it, I was walking into Emily's house. She was laid on the sofa watching TV with six-year-old Tyrone and four-year-old Nathan sharing the small sofa beside her. She looked tired, no doubt from her new addition to the family, three-month-old Evelyn, and it didn't help that Sam was still in a mood about Brady imprinting on his daughter.

"Oh, Quil, hey. What are you doing here?" Emily asked when I stood near the arm of the sofa.

"Can I talk to you?"

"Sure," she got up and made her way to the kitchen. "What's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost."

"Claire asked me about sex," I blurted without hesitation. "When the hell did _that _happen? She's all of a sudden grown up and I don't know what to do. She's not Claire-Bear anymore and it's freaking me out! She's wearing make-up and she's blushing a lot and she's—"

"Quil, you're going to pass out soon," Emily put in amusedly. "Calm down, you sound like you're having a mid-life crIris."

"This isn't funny."

"It is a little bit," she grinned. When she seen my serious face, she sighed. "She's growing up, Quil, everyone goes through it. If I remember correctly, teenage girls are confused, curious, moody and hormonal. You just need to be as understanding as possible."

"What? I need to understand why she asked me if I've ever had sex?"

"She asked you that?" she giggled, "sorry. Like, I said, Quil, she's curious and you're one of the most important people in her life, of course she's going to ask you. You're one of the people she trusts the most and that's who she's going to gravitate to. The fact that you imprinted on her is just highlighting all of that."

"But—"

"Have a drink, Quil. You need it," she handed me a beer from the fridge. "Hang out with Jake for a while or something to clear your head. Handling a teenage girl is one of the hardest things to do and everyone needs a break, even imprinters. You need to accept Claire is growing up and move on."

Grunting, I took large swig of my beer and nodded. I felt guilty when I looked back at Emily's tired face. She already had three kids to take care of, she didn't need to handle my problems on top of that. Emily had just always been my go-to person when I didn't feel comfortable talking to Jake or Embry about something. It was almost automatic to go to her with my imprinting problems because not only was she an imprint herself, but Claire was her niece and Emily was one of the people that knew Claire best.

I finished my beer and kissed Emily's scarred cheek as I headed out the door, shouting over my shoulder for her to have a nap. Taking her advice, I popped over to the Cullen's house and hung out with Jake, Seth and Harry to watch a football game. It was nice, but all I could think about was how much I missed Claire.

I ran up to Makah on the night and watched as Claire did her homework and watched telly, taking comfort in her breathing and the small sounds she made. This little spot near Claire's window had become like a second home to me, in a sad, sad way. I had slept here more times over the past years than I had at my home. I remembered listening as Claire shouted for her mom to get out of the cot, and when she would have nightmares and run into her parent's bedroom. I missed those days but maybe Emily was right, I had to move on.

Just how hard would that be?

Claire didn't mention sex again to me after that. She rang me the next night and we talked for three hours about nothing and everything. We were going back to normal again, kind of. I could tell she was maturing even more not only in looks but mentally. She no longer prattled about teenage dramas of the latest gossip, instead opting to ask me about my life, tell me about her studies and new projects while mentioning little things about her friends and family.

As the year went on, things didn't change much for us. She was still my best friend, my Claire-bear and I was still her Quil. The only thing I did notice change in was Claire. Her faces had lost its childishness, she had grown taller, she was getting curves that were too good not to ogle sometimes. She was becoming more aware of the opposite sex and how they reacted to her. She knew how to flirt and lick her lips in just the right way to bring attention to them.

It was mind boggling.

It was a few months after her fifteen birthday when I went down to Makah to see her. Her parents had gone out for the night with some friends and even though Claire and Nora were old enough to be left alone now, I still wanted to pop in. I had rung Claire before and she sounded excited to see me so that only encouraged my visit.

She was sat on the sofa watching telly when I entered. Somewhere upstairs I could hear Nora moving around and talking to someone on the phone. Smiling at the sight of Claire, I sat down next to her and ruffled her hair in greeting. I had stopped kissing and hugging her when I noticed the indent of her waist.

"Hey Quil," she greeted happily. "Wow, it didn't take you long to get here."

"No traffic."

Telling her I had phased into a giant ass wolf and sprinted over her as fast as I could in anticipation of seeing her didn't seem like the thing to say.

"Oh, okay," she bent over to pick up a bowl of popcorn. "Want some?"

Smiling, I took a few and threw them into my mouth. She was watching a family sitcom that actually looked quite funny, though I didn't pay much attention to that. We talked for a while and settled into our usual comfortable ways.

"Done anything this week?" I asked casually.

To my surprise, Claire flushed bright red and sank low in her seat. "Um, no, not really."

"Liar." I said with a smirk. "You're blushing, what's up?"

She put the bowl of popcorn back onto the table and slapped her hands together as if they were covered in dirt. "Nothing...much," she got up. "I'm getting a drink, want one?"

I shook my head and watched as she walked away, my eyes drifting down to the swing of her hips and the way her skinny jeans clung to her long legs.

_Stop it, Ateara. You're being a weirdo._

Coughing in embarrassment, I turned back to the telly and idly watched the programme. It had changed to _David Letterman _now and some celebrity was getting interviewed about her new movie. Claire came back in with a can of soda, sat back down on the opposite end of the sofa and ran a hand through her hair.

"I went to the cinema with my friends," she stated suddenly. My attention turned to her as her cheeks lit up a lovely pink colour. Had she always been this pretty? "And Bruno kissed me."

I was going to punch him in the neck.

"What?"

"Bruno kissed me," she repeated shyly. "Well, it was more like making out, really."

Anger bubbled up inside me. "Did he do it without you wanting it?" I hissed with the intention of hitting this kid with a pole stick if he did anything to upset her.

"Oh God, no. We were waiting for our rides and he leaned down to kiss me," she paused. "It was kinda nice."

_Oh_.

I gulped back a vile of anger that threatened to explode though I didn't know why. She wanted it, so why didn't I feel any better? She was free to kiss anyone she liked...as long as they don't force her into it. "Yeah?" I breathed after a pregnant pause.

"Mmhmm."

"Do you like him?"

She wrapped her arms around her knees and flushed. "A little."

"That's cool, then."

It wasn't. It wasn't cool in anyway, shape of form.

She turned to look me in the eyes and I was surprised to see she looked sad...almost disappointed. "Cool?" she huffed questionably. "Oh, right," she sighed shortly. "I might ask him out, then."

"You should, you know, if you like him."

"Right, well, I will."

"Good."

She stared at me for another couple of seconds, tittered and stood up to take the empty popcorn bowl into the kitchen. I made a pointed effort not to stare at her as she walked away and came back. She was silent after that, only the occasional laugh or grunt escaping her cupid-bow lips. I tried to make conversation but she would just shrug, nod or shake her head. The tension was slowly growing around us, by the time it was dark outside you could cut it with a knife. Feeling dejected, I turned to examine Claire to see if she had eased up at all, she hadn't. She was still curled in the corner mindlessly watching the telly. The glare from the telly was highlighting her face, making a shadow form on her cheeks from the length of her eyelashes. Her tongue peeked out and slowly licked her lips, creating a thing layer of shininess over the perfect pink—

_STOP!_

Feeling like I had been electrocuted, I jumped up to my feet. Claire gasped at the sudden movement and blinked at me when I looked at her.

"I just remembered I need to do something. I gotta go, bye." I kissed my hand and laid it against her forehead before I ran out the door.

I felt sick.

Why was I noticing all of these things? I shouldn't have been noticing anything other than the fact that she was my best friend. My best friend that had the most gorgeous brown hair I had ever seen.

No. No, no, no, no, no.

There was nothing different about Claire. Nothing at all. That was all I needed to tell myself. She was still Claire-bear. She was still the girl that I took to the zoo and let cake my face in make-up. That was it.

I raced home and into my bed, trying to escape my thoughts and feelings for a few hours. It didn't work, Claire was in my dreams, too.

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**Thoughts?**

**Thanks for the reviews, favourites and alerts! Hope you all like this chapter!**

**-Laylax**


	11. Sweet sixteen

**Don't own anything except OC's.**

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**Chapter 11: Sweet sixteen**

**2019: Claire sixteen**

**Quil's POV**

I parked outside Claire's house and glanced down the driveway. Cars were parked all along the street and were most likely going to the Young house considering it was Claire's sixteenth birthday. She was having a party, friends and family together, in her backyard and house. It was supposed to be a barbeque and from the smell it was, but you never knew the weather around here and it could be washed out within seconds.

I didn't bother to knock like I usually did, assuming that it was an open house. People buzzed around like flies, screaming and shouting their hello's to people they hadn't seen in a while. There was a wide mixture of ages, from Claire's grandparents to Evelyn Uley who was only two.

I searched with keen eyes for any sign of Claire. I knew she was somewhere in the house by the imprint pull but finding her in the mass of people was going to be hard. After ten minutes of aimless searching I found her in the backyard near the table that was stacked high with presents and cards. Excited to see her, I rushed down the stairs with the intention of running to hug her, then I stopped.

She looked beautiful.

Not in a cute, delicate beautiful, but in a curvaceous, womanly beautiful. She had a tight, form fitting dark purple dress that showed off her hourglass figure and long, smooth legs. Her dark brown hair was curled, flowing down her back like a waterfall.

When the fuck did that happen?

I was so shocked I couldn't move, so I just stood in the middle of the backyard looking like someone had told me aliens from mars wanted to probe me. It wasn't for another five minutes Claire noticed my arrival, smiled widely through lip gloss covered lips and walked over to where I was stood. With blurry eyes, I noticed she was taller than usual, cursing when I saw the thick black wedges she had on her feet to make her legs look longer than ever.

"Quil, hey," she said, leaning forward to hug me. I gently patted her back and pushed her away. "I've been waiting for you to come," she smirked, flipping her hair slightly.

"Yeah," I breathed shakily. "Um, well, I'm here."

She raised her right eyebrow and grinned. "I can see that. And with a present, cool."

She took the package from me and dropped it down onto her the present table. "Come meet my friends," she said over her shoulder with a coy smile. "They've all wondered about you."

_What was happening?_

Feeling dare devilish, I sneaked a peak at her round bum as she walked forward with it swinging slightly. It looked even better than it did in jeans.

_STOP IT! You're checking out you sixteen-year-old best friend, idiot! STOP IT! STOP IT RIGHT NOW!_

My eyes snapped from her bum to her hair, focusing on the way to curled and waved. When had Claire turned into a woman? Had it been overnight? I had seen her only last week to plan this party and organize music with her and I hadn't acted like this then, so what was going on now? I hadn't acted remotely like this since several months ago when I realized my feelings for Claire were becoming...inappropriate. After that, I focused on the fact that Claire was, well, Claire. Since then everything had been going relatively normal for us. My stomach churned as we walked over to a small group of girls and boys around Claire's age near the food table. I was in complete turmoil and she wanted to introduce me to her friends? Didn't she know I was about to faint any second from now?

"Hey guys, this is Quil," she greeted the group. Gabby, who I knew quite well from being Collin's imprint, smiled brightly at me and waved. My mind was too fuzzy to smile or wave back, so I just nodded in greeting. "Quil, these are Mia, Nikki, Karl, Isaac, Mac and Lola," she pointed them out. I didn't even pay slight attention to the names or faces. "And Behati's over there getting a drink," she pointed to a reddish-brown haired teen near the punch bowl.

She made chitchat with the group and I stood silently, looking like a complete freak. People had always said to me the day I noticed Claire for anything other than my Claire-bear would come slowly, surely, and that I would be ready for it. Well, I could assure people that it didn't come slowly _or_ surely, and I'm certainly _NOT READY FOR IT_!

Okay, now I'm shouting at myself in my own head. Brilliant.

"Quil, are you okay? You've been quiet," Claire asked in concern as she dragged us over to the food table. Even the smell and sight of food wasn't enough to snap me out of my daze.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I managed to choke out.

"Okay, good," she smiled softly. "Listen, I want to talk to you later about something important, but I want it to be in private. Maybe we could talk after the party or something? I really need to tell you before I lose my ne—yeah, afterwards?"

Numbly, I nodded, unable to do or think of anything else than how grown-up she looked and sounded right now.

"Presents!" Jasmine shouted over the noise of the people around. "Come on, Claire!"

Claire smiled at me, squeezed my hand and walked over to her mom's side. I joined the circle forming around her and leaned against a nearby table, completely overwhelmed though I didn't know why. She opened a few random presents from family members and friends until she got to mine. Her eyes lit up in excitement and she practically dug her way through the wrapping paper.

It was a teddy-bear and a book.

Right now, I looked pretty shit compared to previous years, but this year I had also spent weeks and weeks fixing up the new car her parents had bought her. I had also spent a good amount of money on new parts, a paint job to make the car her favourite colour yellow, and I had made sure it was the right car for her, searching high and low in Forks, Port Angeles and Seattle to make sure the car was safe enough for me to feel comfortable with her in it. However, I wasn't allowed to tell her that because her parents were keeping it a surprise until the end of the day.

Trying to act casual, I walked over, ruffled her hair and grinned. "Happy Birthday, kiddo."

_Yeah, call her kiddo, that'll make this less awkward._

Claire's eyes darkened and her smile dropped. It hit me in the heart like a stab with a knife, but I couldn't bring myself to take it back. I wasn't ready for her to be grown up. I wasn't ready to find her attractive. I wasn't ready for her to have a car.

"Thanks, Quil," she mumbled, looking down at the teddy-bear. She squeezed it slightly and then settled on the floor with the book underneath.

Gulping, I stepped back until I was around four yards away from the crowd of people around her. I needed to get away, to think, to freak out on my own. I needed to figure out what was going on with my whacked up hormones and stupid, gross thoughts about my best friend. The only thing that made me stay was the fact that I knew Claire would be upset if I left. So I endured the mental torture for another hour as she opened all of her presents. She was onto the last pile when I caught the eyes of a concerned Sam.

Seeing him made me freeze. He was technically my Alpha again now. Jake, Nessie, Aurora, Harry and Seth had moved away just after Christmas of 2017 to Routot, France. Embry and I had switched back to Sam's pack until the day Jake came back (he had promised he would come back one day), so Sam was now in charge of us again, though he didn't phase as often as he used to due to wanting to age with Emily.

He was also Claire's uncle.

Sam trusted me. He trusted me not to hurt or take advantage of his niece and I had promised him since the day I had imprinted on her that I would treat her right. Finding her attractive at the tender age of sixteen wasn't protecting or keeping her safe, it was silly, stupid—weird. Sam had risked a lot by going against Oliver when he thought I was a sicko when Claire was younger. Not only was I defying Claire, but Sam.

I couldn't help it, I ran away.

I phased on the fly into the woods around Makah and wondered pointlessly around the thick, green woods. Claire was my best friend, she was my Claire-bear. I couldn't see her like that yet, she was only sixteen for God's sake. She had yet to finish her teenage years without me interfering, she had yet to explore other options and completely find herself. I couldn't and wasn't going to act on my feelings. It was too early, not only for me but for her. If I acted now everything would only fall apart in a couple of months and I couldn't loose what I had with Claire. Everything was perfect just the way it was, I wasn't going to be the one to mess it up.

I ran back to La Push and stayed in my bedroom in the apartment. Collin badgered me about Gabby was doing for half an hour until he realized that I wasn't in the mood to be messed with (I almost broke his nose) and he left me alone on my bed. Claire didn't call, I didn't expect her to. I had run out of her birthday without so much as a goodbye. She was probably severely pissed off at me but I needed time alone for a while.

Four days later, I ran up to Makah to see and (hopefully) make up with her. I had no idea what I was going to say, all I knew was that I missed her like crazy and I needed to hang out before I exploded. I only paused to knock on the door and wait for Jasmine to open it, say a quick hello and I ran into Claire's bedroom. It was still painted yellow from the days we had spent redecorating, though there were some dark marks and scratches now from years of being used. Instead of being laid on her bed watching telly or doing homework like I thought, Claire was stood in front of her full length mirror dressed in skinny jeans and a dark blue top checking herself out.

I refrained myself from walking over and combing my finger through her mane of dark brown hair, and instead asked. "Going somewhere?"

Claire looked up from the mirror in shock and stared at me with her hazel eyes for a moment. Quickly, her face turned dark and she frowned at me. "Yes. What are you doing here?"

I flinched slightly and closed the door behind me. "I'm sorry I ran off. I wasn't feeling too good and then I ate some food from the buffet and it made me even worse—"

"Save it, Quil. It doesn't matter anymore," she stopped me with a stern edge to her voice. I thought her eyes looked slightly watery but it might have been the lighting. She sat on her bed and pulled on some knee length brown boots without so much as glancing at me.

"Where're you going?" I whispered through the tense silence.

"On a date," she replied casually. "A guy asked me from school so we're going to the movies and food."

"Oh."

I felt like I'd been punched in the gut.

"Yep." She popped her lips, bending down to pick up her brown bag from the floor. "Why are you here, anyway?"

"I—I just wanted to hang out, I suppose," I answered quietly.

Her eyes softened considerably and she licked her lips like she felt guilty. "Sorry. You should have called or something," she muttered, smoothing down her hair. "Unless you want to hang out with Nora, I suggest you go," she told me, walking past towards the door. Her kiwi and lilac scent washed back behind her and I greedily inhaled the scent. Feeling utterly rejected, I watched her begin to walk around the corner. "By the way," she paused at the door looking over her shoulder. "Thanks for the car. I love it, especially the colour."

She smiled softly at me and then disappeared down the hallway. Two minutes later I heard the roar of her engine and the squeal of her wheels as she drove off down the street. I stood in the middle of her room for a while, looking at the pictures of her friends, family, the pack and me. She had them stuck all over her bedroom wall above the flowers Nora had drawn at the head of her bed. There was a particular one in the middle of her and me from a few years ago when she was about seven-years-old. Her front teeth had just fallen out and she was showing it off proudly, her tongue poking between the gap.

Those were the simpler days when I didn't have to worry about boys, dates, growing up and bipolar emotions.

I didn't want to hang out with Nora, so I ran out the front door and phased into the woods. I slowly trotted back to the rez with a heavy heart and aching muscles. I felt lost without Claire by my side on a Sunday night. Weekends were when Claire and I had our time together, without her I didn't know what to do. What made it even worse was that the reason she wasn't by my side was because she was on a _date_. No doubt with one of the guys from the party. Damn, I wished I could have memorized their faces so I could track them down. A bitter, cold emotion rang through my veins and I shivered, quickening my pace to get back to my big plans of stuffing my face with pizza and watching shit telly on our screen in the living room.

It wasn't until later that night I realized that emotion was jealousy.

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**Thoughts?**

**Thanks for the reviews, favourites and alerts! Hope you like this chapter! Sorry for the late update I was so busy writing that I didn't realize it was late!**

**Also, I put on photos from my stories onto photobucket. The link is on my profile if you want to check it out!**

**-Laylax**


	12. Quil Ateara

**Don't own anything except OC's.**

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**Chapter 12: Quil Ateara**

**Claire: Sixteen and nine months old**

**Claire's POV.**

Was it weird that almost every memory from my childhood involved Quil Ateara?

He wasn't a part of my family, he wasn't even a friend of my family, he was just my best friend Quil. He had always been around to protect and nurture me. I couldn't even remember a day in my life when Quil wasn't around.

In the beginning he had been like another sibling to me, like Nora but less annoying. I loved him like a brother. Though, unlike most siblings, I wanted to spend every moment I had in life with Quil by my side. I never got bored of him and even though he probably thought of me as a burden, he never complained about me. There was even a photograph in my bedroom from my third birthday of him dressed up in make-up and paint that my friends and I had done. I didn't remember the day but my mom said he never once told us to stop.

Somewhere along the way, I started to see him as a best friend rather than a brother. Gabby and Behati were my best girlfriends, but Quil would always be above them no matter what. I told him everything, from stupid school girl crushes to the new math equation we had learnt that day. I had probably bored him to death with each phone call (bearing in mind I called him every night) but I couldn't stop myself. When I didn't hear Quil's voice I got anxious to see him. My body and heart screamed out for him, to hear his laugh, to see him smile.

It wasn't until I was fifteen did I realize I was in love with him. I had had a crush on him since I was ten and realized that, in fact, boys did not have cooties like I had previously thought. I started to notice that Quil was actually quite good-looking, for an older man, then as time passed he just progressed into being the hottest guy I had ever seen. I started to crave his hugs and forehead kisses, to feel the warmth of his russet skin under my fingertips. Just having a five minute conversation with him on the phone would brighten up my day, or even something as simple as listening to an old voicemail.

Of course, being only fourteen I didn't know I was in love with him. I thought it was a silly crush and in some ways it was, but in my heart it was much deeper than that. When I turned fifteen and began to grew into a young woman, learn about the wonders of the world and recognize just what love was, it hit me. Quil Ateara was my love. The way soppy romance novels described love and lust, that was the way I felt about Quil. I needed Quil like I needed oxygen, I just hadn't known it until that moment.

The disappointing (heart-breaking, soul-crushing) thing? He didn't feel the same way...at all.

He didn't hold my hand without swinging it, he called me "Claire-Bear", he hugged me like I was one of his mates or his cousin, I wasn't even considered a girl in his eyes. Just another friend to hang out with.

The older I got the more distant he became towards me. Not only that, but it was like he was trying to cling onto my childhood. No matter how many times I scolded him, he insisted on calling me "Claire-Bear" even if we were out shopping or with his friends. He stopped hugging and kissing me and flinging his arm across the back of the sofa when I sat next to him. It was when I turned sixteen I knew for definite he still saw me as a child. He got me a teddy-bear, ruffled my hair and said "Happy Birthday, kiddo".

Yeah, that pretty much destroyed me.

Kiddo? _Kiddo?_ I was _sixteen _for God's sake and he called me kiddo! That wasn't the worst thing about it. No, the worst thing was that it was in front of everyone and it was the day I was planning on telling him how I felt. I was going to tell him I loved him as more than a brother or a best friend, that I wanted to be more, or that I wanted him. However, that was all shattered within five seconds of him opening his stupid (perfect) lips. He left about an hour later and without even saying goodbye. Later, I found out he had fixed up my car, but, for some reason, not even that made me feel better.

After that day, I knew. I knew Quil wouldn't see me of anything other than Claire-Bear. Silently, I hoped that he would miraculously change his mind, fall to his knees and declare his undying love for me in song. That wasn't going to happen.

So I dated other boys, trying desperately to forget Quil Ateara before I made myself go crazy. They were all nice boys, attractive, smart, treated me good—yet all I could think about was Quil. When they would ask me what I wanted to eat all I would think was "Quil would know what I want". When they did something that annoyed me "Quil wouldn't have done that" would immediately pop into my mind. I hated it. Why wouldn't Quil just let me get over him?

I wanted to stay away from him, to have a break. Maybe a break was what I needed to wrap my head around the idea that I would never have him. That turned out to be useless, I lasted three days before I rang him up and said that I had finished my homework and he could come around. When he came, my heart skipped a beat and my stomach burst into butterflies, yet all he did was smile at me and ruffle my hair. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry, so later that night I settled for both.

This lasted for a few weeks until I met Peter. He was different to the other guys, he made me laugh more and made me feel emotions I hadn't felt with anyone else except Quil. When he kissed me, it didn't feel like I was kissing a wet fish, but a boy, yet still there were no fireworks, no rush of extreme emotion that made me want to ravish him in my kitchen. Quil could make me imagine that with a simple brush of his hand against my arm.

Still, Peter was the only thing in the world that stopped me from thinking about Quil for more than two minutes, so I didn't end it after a few dates. In fact, we went on strong. He met my family and friends, we went on double dates with his friends and girlfriends, we generally just had fun together. After six months of dating Peter heard me talking about my Aunt Emily, again, and suddenly decided he wanted to meet her. I was able to put it off for a month but then he started to complain about me being embarrassed of him and blah, blah, blah.

Long story short, we were going to La Push to meet my Uncle and Aunt...and Quil.

I couldn't help but feel nervous as Peter drove down the windy roads of La Push. I had rung Aunt Emily up a few days ago to tell her about us coming down this weekend and she seemed excited to meet him. Aunt Emily was the nice one of the family, though, I had no idea what the hell Uncle Sam was going to act like. Even worse, Quil. He was over protective to the point of mother hen mode so I had a feeling he had his grandfather's rifle in his pocket today.

Oh, God, Quil was going to shoot my boyfriend, wasn't he?

"Why are you so tense?" Peter asked, squeezing my hand he was holding. "You're acting like we're going to death row."

"I just don't know how my Uncle is going to react," I replied truthfully. "Or my best friend, Quil. He's very protective of me."

"Is he the big, weird one?"

I sighed in expiration and sent him a glare. "He's not weird, Peter. He's my best friend, okay?"

"I know, I know." He paused for a moment, "I still think he's weird, though."

Everyone had always thought mine and Quil's relationship was weird. My dad used to dislike Quil quite a lot until he had talk with my Uncle Sam about him, and even my mom was suspicious at times though she put up with it for me. Nora had thought it was a little weird when she had just turned into a teenager, but soon got over my life and started to worry about the woes of her life. Now, she just said Quil was like a member of the family to her and she didn't really count him as a weirdo anymore. That pleased and disgruntled me a little, given the fact that she had previously thought Quil was weird.

I had never thought about our relationship as weird until other people started pointing it out to me. Some of what they were saying started to make sense. Why would Quil, a grown-up man, want to hang out with a little girl like me? Obviously, I wasn't as young now, but why did he spend his Saturday night's helping me with math homework when he could have been out partying with his friends? Some of it didn't make sense, but I was just so happy that Quil would come to see me I didn't even question nor care about the reasons. The only time I would really wonder about him was when I was alone in my bedroom thinking about my life. Quil was such an important person in my life now I didn't mention my worries and thoughts, afraid that he would suddenly realize that I'm just some random girl and drop me to live out his life with a gorgeous exotic woman and have a dozen beautiful kids.

Gabby also got it from people, being best friends with Quil's friend Collin. I actually remembered the day they met. We had been redecorating my bedroom and Collin had showed up with Quil to help. Collin had taken one look at Gabby and just...fell. He become like a puppy following around its owner, not that Gabby minded. She was enthralled with him straight away and they soon became best friends, e-mailing, sending texts, having long winded phone calls about the wonders and mysteries of life. I had thought their sudden friendship was highly weird at first, until I realized just how much having Collin in her life was helping Gabby.

She didn't have a good home life, something I figure out from an early age and she later confirmed when she trusted me enough. Her parents didn't care about her or her siblings, her mom was too busy being a hot-shot detective in Port Angeles and her dad gambled and drank a lot. They spent most of their days away from home in separate hotels, Gabby said probably cheating on each other. Gabby had been brought up by several different nannies and had to take care of her siblings when there wasn't anyone else around. A few months after meeting Collin, Gabby confined in me that he was really helping her out and making her happier than she had been, ever. After that, I didn't find it so weird.

Knowing he wouldn't understand, I just shrugged and turned to look out the window again. We soon passed the "Welcome to La Push" sign and my heart doubled in pace. Oh, God, here we go.

I navigated him to the right house and slowly got out. As usual, it was raining so I had to pull the hood over my head before running up the driveway.

"Ready?" I asked as we got to the front door.

"Of course," he answered, taking my hand.

I took a deep breath and turned the handle of the door. "Oh, Peter, don't stare, okay?"

"Why would I st—"

"Aunt Em, we're here!"

She walked out from the kitchen with Evelyn on her hip and Nathan at her feet. I could see Tyrone sat on one of the couch seats playing on a video game. "Hello honey," she smiled, kissing my cheek. "And you must be Peter."

Peter gulped and nodded, his lips stretching into a smile. He looked a little shocked by my Aunt's angry scars, but had quickly regained himself. "Yes, thank you for having me, Mrs. Uley."

"Call me Emily, honey," she grinned as Evelyn reached out to touch Peter's face. She had a thing about touching people. "Are you hungry? I made pies."

I opened my mouth to reply when the front door opened to reveal my Uncle and Quil. Like always, my heart skipped a beat at the sight of him, even windswept and slightly damp he still took my breath away. Uncle Sam eyed Peter up suspiciously and then raised his eyebrows at me. "Uncle Sam, this is Peter," I introduced thickly. "Pete, this is my Uncle Sam."

Peter confidently shook his hand, which, I have to say, impressed me. Not many people in the world could act unthreatened when on the receiving end of my Uncle Sam's judging glare. Even I cowered back from it. Uncle Sam went to say hello to Emily so that left Peter, me and Quil.

_Awkward_.

"Um, Pete this is Quil," I said in a quieter voice than before.

"The best friend," Peter nodded in a slightly bitter tone. "Yeah, I know. I'm Peter, nice to meet you," he held out his hand politely.

I moved my eyes to Quil and pleaded with all the God's to help me in this moment. I could imagine Quil crushing his hand or shoving him into the table. "I'm Quil," he eyed him scornfully. "Nice too meet you, too."

By the tone of his voice, he definitely didn't mean that.

They stepped back and eyed each other. Feeling the tension building up fast, I grabbed hold of Peter's shirt and pulled him around so his back was facing Quil. I silently pleaded with my eyes for him to keep his cool and he smiled sweetly, bending down to drop a light peck on my lips. The action spread warmth throughout me, I just didn't feel the explosion of passion and fireworks so many books had described. Maybe that was all those emotions were meant for, books. In real life maybe you had to wait for the explosions and bombs to explode.

I comforted myself with that thought and smiled at my boyfriend. He really was sweet and kind and caring—he was what I was hoping for in a boyfriend.

So why did I feel like this was wrong?

Sighing, I pushed those thoughts out of my mind and took Peter by the hand over to Tyrone. My cousin smiled widely at me and paused his video game to chat with us about random things we could think of. I couldn't stop myself from peeking over at Quil, he was staring at Peter and I with an unreadable expression. Blushing, I looked back to Tyrone and Peter. Aunt Emily shouted us for dinner soon after so we all sat around the table, me in-between Nathan and Peter and across from Uncle Sam. Quil sat opposite Peter, staring him down darkly.

"So Peter, do you go to the same school as Claire?" Aunt Emily asked conversationally as she fed Evelyn and herself at the same time.

"Yes, we're in the same year," Peter smiled.

"Do you do any after school activities?" Uncle Sam questioned almost threateningly. I aimed a kick at him under the table but he acted like he didn't feel it.

"Yeah, I play baseball, mostly for fun. I have too much homework to do anything full time," he answered smoothly.

I grabbed his hand in relief and laced our fingers together. He smiled at me and winked.

"Get straight A's?" Quil asked.

"A's and B's."

"Do you party a lot?"

"No."

"Do you drink? Smoke? Do drugs?"

"No, no and no."

"Are you sure because I can find out, you know. I know people."

"Quil!" I screamed in embarrassment. "What are you doing?"

"Protecting you," Quil growled at me. I recoiled, feeling hurt ping through me. Quil never got angry with me and he certainly never shouted at me. "So are you planning on sticking around or fleeing?"

"Quil," Aunt Emily said warningly. Uncle Sam just sat with his arms crossed, leaned back against the chair with an almost amused look on his face.

Well, I'm glad someone was having fun.

Quil stared at my Aunt Emily and when she narrowed her eyes, he dropped his gaze and looked down at his plate moodily. I almost felt like smacking him. He had totally embarrassed me in front of my boyfriend. Peter would probably break up with me and spread around the whole school that I had a physco best friend that needed sending to the mental hospital. I was never going to be able to walk down the hallways without being pointed at.

Peter squeezed my hand before I could even open my mouth enough to begin shouting at him. I turned my head and raised my eyebrows to see him shake his head back. He didn't want me to say anything. Scowling, I turned back to my meal and ate through the awkward silence, sending angry looks at Quil when I felt like it.

After dinner we watched telly for a little while until Peter decided he needed to get home. I was staying at Aunt Em's and Uncle Sam's for the weekend to hang out with Quil...though, I didn't know whether I was still doing that now he was acting like such a weirdo. I walked Peter to the door and closed it behind me just in case my Uncle decided to spy.

"I'm sorry about Quil," I whispered. "He can be a little bit weird sometimes."

He chuckled softly. "It's fine. I would act that way, too, if I was your best friend. He doesn't want anyone hurting you."

I rolled my eyes. "Mmhmm. Well, I can take care of myself."

"I'm sure you can."

He leaned down and placed a tender kiss on my lips. I pressed my lips harder against his, hoping to ignite the missing passion and lust I desperately wanted. It didn't work. Mentally groaning, I pulled away and smiled half-heartedly at him.

"I'll see you on Monday," I promised. He kissed my nose and then ran into his car through the rain. I waved to him as he drove off and then turned back into the house, anger flaring.

"What was that about?" I yelled at Quil who was sat on the sofa.

He turned his head and stared at me darkly. "What?"

"What do you mean _what_? You basically just interrogated my boyfriend and all you have to say is _what_?" I screamed shrilly.

I didn't know why I was so angry, to be honest. He hadn't done anything really bad, and he hadn't shot him with a rifle. But for some reason, I was _fuming_. I had dated Peter in hopes of forgetting Quil, to get over him once and for all and he meets him for the first time, glares at him and interrogates him in front of my Aunt, Uncle and cousins. Not only that, but he had made Peter uncomfortable and embarrassed me in front of Peter, the person I needed in my life to keep me from going crazy over Quil. And yet here Quil was, driving him away.

"I asked normal questions, Claire! I just wanted to make sure he wasn't a serial killer or something!"

"A serial killer?" I asked flatly. "Really? You think I would go out with a serial killer? What's wrong with you lately? You've been acting weird ever since my party!"

He paled slightly and then cleared his throat. "Nothing's wrong with me Claire. Maybe there's something wrong with you."

"With me? _Why_?"

"Why are you dating all of these boys all of a sudden?" he roared, flinging his arms around in the air. "You've went from not caring about boys at all to completely boy crazy! You've got a new guy every week! I can't keep up with you anymore!"

"I've been dating Peter for seven months!" I screeched back, stepping forward to shove him in the chest. He didn't even flinch but my arms clicked back. "And if you can't keep up maybe you should pay more attention!"

"I did pay attention!" he snapped. "Until you started acting like a spoilt brat!"

I flinched back and felt my eyes sting with tears. "You're just jealous," I hissed furiously. "You haven't had a girlfriend for over a decade so you're taking it out on me. Maybe you should go and get your own life and then you wouldn't be so bothered about mine!"

Right in front of my eyes Quil started to shake. It wasn't a cold shake or an anger shake, but it was like he was actually vibrating. After ten seconds it got so bad he began to blur and his face bloomed bright red.

"Quil, outside, now!" Uncle Sam boomed from the kitchen doorway. I whipped around in shock at his voice with my hand over my heart. I must have only been turned for around three seconds, but when I turned back Quil was gone and the front door was left open with the rain pouring down. Worried, I rushed over to the door and looked out the front yard for Quil. He was nowhere to be seen.

"QUIL!" I screamed out into the distance. I didn't mean anything I said, I didn't want him to get hurt because of my motor mouth. Oh, God, what if he got ran over by a car or something? It would be all my fault. If he ever got hurt I would never be able to forgive myself. "QUIL!"

"Claire, honey, leave him," Aunt Emily soothed, resting her hand on my shoulder.

"But what if he gets hurt?"

"He won't, promise," she smiled. Tears leaked out of the corners of my eyes and she carefully wiped them away. I was a horrible person. I couldn't believe I had just said that to Quil. _My Quil_. I didn't want him to get a girlfriend, if he ever did I would have been incredibly jealous. Why did I have to say that? Now he was really going to hate me and leave me. Panic settled into my heart then. What if he really did leave me? He might think of me as not worth his time anymore and go off with some girl from the reservation. I couldn't loose Quil. I would loose myself if he left me.

"Come on, Claire," Aunt Em said softly, handing me a tissue as I started to weep. "I'll get you some tea."

I sat down onto the dining table and let my head fall into my arms.

Oh, God, what had I done?

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**Thoughts?**

**Thanks for the reviews, favourites and alerts! Hope you liked this chapter, I know a lot of you were waiting for Claire's POV and I hope you like it! Remember, I've got pictures on my photobucket if anyone is interested, the link is on my profile!**

**I also wanted to say that I've started school again this week and my writing time isn't very much. I get a few hours on the weekends, if that. So my stories and updating are going to slow down, sadly my work is over-taking everything else at the minute. I'm training to be a vet, and the hours are long and hard. Seriously, I barely get time to sleep.**

**-Layla**


	13. Complications

**Don't own anything except OC's.**

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**Chapter 13: Complications**

**Claire is sixteen-years-old**

**Quil's POV.**

"Quil, outside, now!"

Through my blurring vision I could see Sam stood by the doorway with a stern expression on his face. Instinctively, my eyes flickered to Claire, who was now looking at Sam, and I rushed out the door in less than a second. I didn't want to hurt Claire by phasing in front of her, even if she was the reason I was phasing in the first place.

I ran for what seemed like miles, trying to physically let some steam off. Once I thought I was far enough away, I crouched down behind an oak tree, slid my hair into my hands and took long, deep breaths. Over the years I had learnt how to control my phasing so much that I could almost always stop myself when I got angry. In fact, until today, I hadn't had an episode of shaking violently for three years. After twenty minutes I was calm enough to stand and stop inhaling loudly, but I still didn't feel any better.

I had felt like shit for months now. Since the day of Claire's sixteenth birthday party, to be exact. After visiting her Claire to apologize for taking off without saying goodbye and finding out she had a date, things had been worse than ever. I had thought the date was a one off, like that Bruno guy who only lasted two weeks before Claire got bored of him, I thought Claire was just exploring and trying out something new. However, it turned out to be her new craze. One week it was Steven, the next it was Taylor, the week after that it was Robbie. She told me about her dates, for reasons still unknown to me, and with each new name I couldn't help but feel jealousy build up inside me.

I missed her. I missed hanging out with her and making her laugh. I missed her being by my side and phoning me every night to tell me about her day. She didn't do that anymore, I was lucky if I got two calls a week now, and even then they were scarce and a little bitter. Every weekend she was out on her dates so I couldn't even go to visit her, though on odd weekends she would invite me down for a closed off talk.

I didn't know what to do. Did I apologize again? Did I ask her to talk to me about it? Did I ask Nora to talk to her? Each idea was quickly squashed when I came up with the outcomes that they presented. So I just let her be, taking everything in stride...well, as much as I could.

Then Peter came along and Claire wasn't dating random guys anymore, she was going serious with a lanky kid from her class. She had mentioned something about liking him more, though it was brief, like all conversations we had these days. I had thought he would go in a couple of weeks like the others...but then a month passed and she was still with him...then two, then three and soon seven months had passed by and she was still dating _Peter_. I wasn't allowed to meet him or talk to him, the only information I had was what Claire told me. She described him as a great guy that she really liked, but I wanted to make sure. If Claire was going to go off with this guy, I needed to make sure she was going to be happy with him. So when Emily told me Claire was bringing Peter down for a meal, I jumped at the chance to ask the kid some questions. I had good intentions: make sure he was good enough for Claire.

That went out the window when I saw them.

They were holding hands and smiling lovingly at each other. He wasn't scared off by Sam, and then Claire introduced him to me and he _glared_ like I had done something to offend him. I didn't like him, not one bit, especially when Claire pulled him aside slightly and kissed him. Something roared within me to yank her away and run with her. I refrained, mostly because I would get put down for kidnapping if I went through with it. She looked beautiful even in a pair of jeans and a simple top. She always looked beautiful nowadays.

Peter had sent me dark looks as Claire played and laughed with Tyrone on the sofa. I don't think she noticed, she was too engrossed with Tyrone to pay attention to us. He smirked triumphantly at me and wrapped his arm around her waist as if to say, "Ha. You lose". I wanted to smack him so hard he landed back in Makah. Claire looked over at me then, caught my eye and blushed.

I wanted to scream in joy. She still reacted to me.

Then they were holding hands again and sitting at the table sending each other awed looks. Emily had been the first to ask questions, so I didn't see what was wrong with me joining in. My questions weren't even that bad! They were simple, straight to the point and important. I also think he was lying on some of them, but whatever. After Peter had gone I expected Claire to be a little angry, taking into account her outraged look at the table, but I didn't expect her to be _livid_. She was screaming, I was shouting things I didn't mean. All the anger, bitterness and jealously that had been suppressed for months and months on end burst out in one sitting.

And then she shouting about me being jealous and I blew it. It was true. Hearing someone say it, however, especially Claire, released something inside me. I was jealous about the whole thing, her being in a relationship, me being on my own, Peter being able to spend time with her when I didn't. I wanted to bite back and defend myself, but I didn't know what to say. What did I say to something that was true, but you didn't want it to be? I couldn't lie to Claire, anyway, so there was no point of even opening my mouth.

Having nowhere else to go, I wondered back to my apartment and into my bedroom to think things over. First thing, I needed to apologize to Claire for interrogating her boyfriend (though I thought it was necessary), shouting at her, and then scaring her by almost phasing, not that she knew I had almost turned into a wolf in her Aunt and Uncle's living room.

I wanted Claire to be happy. I wanted her to live her life the way _she _wanted. If being with Peter was making her happy, why did it make me feel like complete shit? Whenever Claire had been happy when she was younger I would have been happy, too. We were two halves of a whole, so deeply connected by the imprint our emotions bounced off one another. By the way she went on about Peter and acted with him, he was making her happy, so why wasn't that emotion bouncing off to me?

I wondered if because our relationship had changed that I wasn't effected the same why as when she was a child. Had we lost a part of the imprint bond by not hanging out and being friends these past several months? Did the imprint bond magically change the moment I realized that Claire was grown-up and an attractive young woman? I had no answers.

I fell into an unsettled sleep hours later. I tossed and turned all night until I was awoken by a knocking on the front door. My back jerked like someone was pulling a string it was attached to and my body started to buzz. I knew it was Claire before I even opened the door.

"Quil, oh thank God," she sighed as soon as she seen me. She flung herself into my arms, her grip tight around my neck. "I thought something was going to happen to you," she choked.

Forgetting everything I had been getting headaches about, I wrapped my arms around her frame and slammed the door shut with my foot. My imprint needed comforting and I would be dead before letting her hurt. "I'm fine, Claire," I whispered soothingly.

"I'm so sorry, Quil," she cried, letting go to look me in the eyes. Tears leaked down her cheeks and I wiped them away with my thumbs. "I didn't mean anything I said. I was just hormonal and in a bit of a bitch mood."

I chuckled softly. "It wasn't your fault, Claire. I shouldn't have interrogated your—your boyfriend," I replied, wiping away her tears again. "I didn't mean to upset you, I promise, I just wanted to know if he was good enough for you."

"I know," she giggled thickly. "I expected it. I just—I've got some stuff on my mind and it's making me act a little crazy."

"What's on your mind?"

Her cheeks heated up slightly and she took a small step back. "School work and stuff. I have far too much and I'm loosing sleep over it."

"Oh."

She had stepped away from me but her hand was still in mine. I gently stroked my thumb across the back of her silky hand. She looked at our intertwined hands for a moment, sighed, and then looked me in the eye. "Quil, can we go back to being best friends?"

"We already are, Claire."

"I know," she stated. "But things have been really weird between us lately and I don't like it. I—I miss you, Quil. You've always been my best friend and I kinda need you around for my sanity," she chuckled. "We don't even have to go back to calling each other every night. I just want to hang out sometimes and laugh like we used to."

I grinned widely at her, my heart bursting with happiness. "No problem, Claire," I beamed, bringing her in for another hug. I couldn't help but realize she fit perfectly in my arms. "And you can call me every night, if you want to. I love hearing about your day."

"Really? I thought it must have been pretty boring for you."

"You're never boring, Claire."

She blushed and smiled shyly at me as we broke apart. "Well, thanks," she muttered.

She peeked up at me through her thick eyelashes and I smiled softly at her. Something passed between us, a strong wave of emotions, electricity and passion. Just as she took a step forward, my cell phone rang.

Son of a bitch!

"Hello?" I spat.

"Whoa, man, what did I do?" Jake asked in an offended tone.

My anger departed instantly at his voice. Jake rang me three times a week to have a talk and see how life down in La Push was doing. I missed having him down the road and having beers with him while watching a game. His life was going good, though, he and Nessie had a daughter called Elizabeth who had just turned one. "Sorry, Jake," I said. "I'm hungry."

Jake laughed. "So eat, don't bite my head off."

I sent Claire and apologetic look, she blushed and shrugged, walking over to the sofa to turn on the telly.

Jacob Black had shit timing.

"How's things going in France?" I asked, leaning against the counter in the kitchen. I heard Claire laugh at something on the telly and smiled to myself.

"Pretty normal except my kid is growing twice as fast as she should," he snorted. "Oh, and Harry has learnt how to climb up trees, so that's fun for Seth and Aura. How's life down there?"

"Normal. Embry's still kicking it with his kids and Elle, and everyone else is pretty much the same except we have a couple of new wolf-kids in the pack."

"You and Claire doing okay?"

"A lot better, thanks."

I had talked to Jake about my troubles with Claire after a night when I drank a 24-pack beer to myself. Still, I was glad I told him. Jake was the only person I knew that had gone though the same thing as I did, though his imprint grew triple the times of mine so it was still totally different. We had watched our imprints grow up, however, and learnt the art of the imprint bond and how it changed as the years went by. Jake had offered some advice that had helped. He had said give her space and time to figure things out. He knew this from the time Nessie ran away after finding out about Jake's past, that had been an awful few months. Jake had walked around like a zombie for a couple of them and then it got so bad he couldn't even get out of bed. Nessie had come back just in time, in my opinion. If he had been left any longer he probably would have died.

We talked for a while longer and then I chatted to Seth for fifteen minutes. After saying goodbye I went back into the living room and sat down next to Claire on the sofa, wrapping my arm around the back. She looked up and smiled brightly at me.

"How's Jake and the others?"

"They're great," I responded with a smile. God, it felt good to hang out with her again, to see her smile and hear her laugh. "Have you spoken to them lately?"

"Yeah, Nessie and Aurora phoned me four days ago," she grabbed hold of my hand and fiddled with my fingers. Her smooth skin against my rough felt amazing. "And I talked to Harry for a bit. He's gorgeous, by the way. Aurora sent me a picture and he's the double of Seth."

"Mmm."

"And Ness sent me a picture of Lizzie. She's gorgeous, too. She takes after Jake more than Nessie looks wise. Jake says she looks a lot like his grandma." She twirled my hand and made a star pattern on the back with her forefinger, then laced our fingers together.

"We should go out and see them some time," I commented.

Her face lit up. "Really? I'd love that!"

"Yeah, we could go next summer after you finish high school."

"That would be amazing, Quil," she smiled. I made a mental note to make sure Alice booked some flights for us. I had no idea how to do it myself.

We talked until late afternoon when Sam called up and said she needed to go back so he could drive down to Makah before it got dark. We hugged tightly and she promised to call me when she got home. Waving as she turned the corner to head down the stairs, I couldn't help but wonder if she was going to see Peter. She was probably going to meet up with him and apologize, too. They were probably going to have a lot more physical making up than we did.

Once she had gone, I shut the door and leaned against it. I had everything I wanted. I had Claire back, we were talking again, we were best friends. So why did I still feel like shit?

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**Thoughts?**

**Thanks for the reviews, favourites and alerts! Hope you guys like this chapter and remember there's a link to pictures on my profile!**

**-Laylax**


	14. Betrayal

**Don't own anything except OC's.**

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**Chapter 14: Betrayal**

**Claire's POV**

Swerving into the driveway of the cute light blue house, I couldn't help but laugh at the thought of my mom seeing do that move so fast. She went crazy if I went two mile over the speed limit, I could imagine her having a heart attack if she saw me now. Chuckling to myself, I locked the car and ran up to knock on the door.

"Oh, hello dear," Dahlia greeted me with a warm smile. "They're in her bedroom."

I smiled gratefully at Gabby's grandmother and rushed up the stairs to join my best friends. They were sat on the bed giggling when I entered but stopped when the door squeaked.

"Okay, what was so important that you couldn't tell me over the phone?" I asked Gabby, jumping to Behati's side near the headboard.

"Don't freak out," Gabby looked like she was about to burst with happiness. "But Collin kissed me last night!"

My mouth dropped open. "Really? That's great, Gabby!"

"I know!" she squealed and Behati winced. "It was _amazing_, Claire. It was everything I had ever dreamed of and more."

"I've lost count how many times she's said that," Behati muttered.

"Shush, you," Gabby ordered jokingly. "I'm happy. Don't ruin my mood."

I silently listened as Gabby recited her kiss with Collin on the couch in the living room. I nodded and smiled at the right moments as she glowed with bliss. I was happy for her, really and truly, but I couldn't help but be a little jealous. If things were moving on for Collin and Gabby, why were Quil and I still stuck at limbo?

Gabby had been through a lot these past six months. She had gotten into a massive fight with her parents about her dream of being a party planner and all the things that Gabby had been holding up all of her life came out. She told me she had said she didn't want to be their daughter anyway and escaped to her grandparent's house to confine in them. Dean and Dahlia, said grandparent's, were furious at their son and daughter-in-law. Dahlia stormed over, shouted, screamed, and even slapped Gabby's mom across the face before demanding Gabby and her siblings pack their bags because they were going to live with her. Gabby had not hesitated, but had run into her parents again while collecting her stuff and they had another argument. Now, her parents were off in different places of the world "clearing their heads", not that Gabby cared, and the Williams siblings were finally getting the good family life they deserved. Collin finally seeing her as a woman was just icing on her wonderful cake.

After the day Quil and I sorted our issues out things had been going great...kind of. We were best friends again, which I loved more than anything, however I found myself falling for him more and more each day. Hanging out and talking everyday had highlighted, and even revealed, the reasons why I loved him. He was smart, funny, kind, caring, generous, beautiful, hot, sexy—he was _Quil_.

My distraction got so bad Peter started to notice. He made small comments about how I was paying more attention to Quil than I was him, then he started to outright tell me I needed to stop being so obsessed with being Quil's friend. I wanted—or tried—to stop, but I couldn't and I didn't want to. If I had to choose between spending my Saturday nights with Quil or Peter, I easily chose Quil. He made me laugh more, we had more fun together, he made me happier. Mine and Peter's relationship came to a head after I lied to him about sleeping over at Gabby's one night when really I went to spend the day with Quil. Peter rang me up on the night claiming he saw Gabby at the cinema with Behati and I wasn't with them. I was forced to tell the truth and we broke up. School become sufficiently more awkward after that, thanks to Peter's glares and snide comments. Though, I couldn't bring myself to care too much. I was free to hang out and talk to Quil whenever and wherever I wanted, so Peter's sour mood was the last thing on my mind.

For reasons unbeknown to me, I was waiting for Quil to make a move. I wasn't certain, but I had a feeling that Quil was starting to notice me. Since the day I announced to Quil that Peter and I were done, Quil had been a lot more open with me. Whenever I was close enough for him to touch me, he would. It was nothing extreme, just simple hand holding or placing his arm along my shoulders, however it was a good sign. Maybe he was seeing me in the same way I was seeing him. It was a long shot, but I held silent hope.

The hope began to die during the months leading up to my seventeenth birthday. He still hadn't made a move on me and I had opened up plenty of opportunities. He stayed completely oblivious to anything I said, did or hinted at. Were the touchy-feely actions really just acts from one best friend to another? Had I been reading too far in-between the lines?

Christmas came (was he going to kiss me under the mistletoe?) and went with nothing. We exchanged presents, a kiss on the cheek and a hug and that was it. We spent the rest of the days with the Uley's and I got no alone time with him during the trip. My hope distinguished even more. He really did see me as his best friend, nothing more. Was that all Quil and I were meant to be for the rest of our lives? Best friends? That thought made me feel sick. Surely, there was something more to it—to _us_ than that. I would never love another man like I loved Quil Ateara, I was positive, so why were we not together yet?

Hearing that Collin and Gabby, who had also been best friends for years and were the closest relationship I knew to be like me and Quil's, were stepping up in their relationship was like a punch to the gut. If they could do it, why couldn't we? Did they love each other more? Was there something wrong with me and Quil?

"So what next for you two?" Behati asked, popping a jelly sweet into her mouth. "Has he called you yet?"

Gabby sighed dreamily. "He called me this-morning and asked me out on a date tomorrow night. He said he missed me and couldn't wait to see me again."

"Sweet," Behati said dryly. "Anything naughty?"

"No!"

"Damn." She turned to me with a smirk. "I bet you ten bucks they're bonking within the month."

"Behati Spencer!" Gabby shrieked, her face blooming red. "That's so...actually, I hope you're right."

"Imagine how big he would be," Behati's light green eyes widened. "Like, it's going to have to be as big as the rest of him, right? And Collin's _massive_, so _it's_ going to be massive."

"Not if he uses steroids," I pointed out laughingly. Behati always said the strangest things, but I loved her to pieces. Her randomness and kooky ways to life made her Behati.

"No, then he'll be tinie weenie," she made an inch gap with her thumb and forefinger. "Ha! That would be hilarious. If he is that small, take a picture...and if he's big, also take a picture."

"That would be quite weird," I said. "In the heat of the moment Gabby just whips out her cell phone and says 'oh, wait a sec, Behati wants me to take a picture of you'. I think he'd refuse to have sex after that, to be honest."

"That's _so_ not how I talk," Gabby huffed at my squeaky impersonation voice.

"Fine, ask Quil if you can take one of his."

My face pounded at the thought of seeing Quil naked. Oh, God, I bet he would be like a statue or something judging from just his chest and stomach alone. The La Push guys walked around without shirts on more often than not down on the rez and I had seen Quil with only shorts on multiple times. From the age of twelve I had been greedily appreciating that fact as I took in the coppery plains of his toned body. One of the only parts of Quil I hadn't seen was his _thing_ and his butt, and damn I wanted to see them _bad_.

"Oh, she's blushing!" Behati mocked brightly. "She's getting hot at the thought!"

Embarrassed, I turned away from her only to see Gabby giggling away at the opposite end of the bed. Traitor.

"Anyway, maybe I could see for myself," Behati mulled. "Quil's got some pretty hot friends. Like Brady, for example."

"Brady's not really into that kind of stuff," I mumbled. He was too busy following Evelyn Uley around like a puppy. Aunt Emily said they reminded her of Quil and I when I was younger. "You might get Aiden, though. He likes to play around a lot."

"Oh, yeah, Aiden's gorgeous," Gabby gushed. "He has nothing on Collin," she added more to herself than to us.

I had to agree. After Quil, Aiden was probably the hottest guy of the bunch that constantly dropped in and out of my Aunt and Uncle's place. He was quiet and brooding with a heart the size of Russia. He slept around quite a bit, but I had a feeling he was a bit broken. From what, I didn't know, and I had a feeling I didn't want to.

We talked for a few hours and then I left to go to La Push for the weekend. My parents and I had a deal, as long as I kept my grades up in school and didn't get into too much trouble, I was allowed to go to La Push on a weekend. I had to give it to my parents, they kept their promises. Like they had said, they didn't complain once as I left every weekend to visit Quil. We had rules and as long as I stuck to them, they stuck to their part of the deal. At first they had thought it would have a bad effect on my grades, however it did the opposite. Knowing that all I had to do was get good grades to see Quil on a weekend made me work even harder at my school work to make sure I got to see him. I had gone from a B average to an A*/A average. My parents were exceptionally proud and I had to admit, so was I.

Gabby and Collin's kiss replayed in my mind as I drove down to La Push. I wanted that to be me and Quil. I wanted to be on the other end of the gushing, my cheeks flushed from my thoughts and giggling at the new feelings the next step brought. Really, I wanted to be with Quil.

I text my mom that I had safely arrived, one our rules, in the car and then ran through the rain into my Aunt and Uncle's house. Tyrone and Nathan were playing on the X-box and my Aunt and Evelyn were painting at the dining table. My Uncle worked at a construction company from nine until five so he wouldn't be home for another hour. Instinctively, my eyes searched for Quil and disappointment ran through me when he didn't come out of the kitchen with food like he usually did.

"Hello, honey," Aunt Emily smiled, hugging me. Evelyn sloppily kissed my cheek and then went back to painting her flower. "Was your drive okay?"

"Yeah, fine. Where's—"

"Quil?" she finished knowingly. "He got called in by Embry to Fix 'n' Go fifteen minutes ago. He'll be back in about half an hour."

Sighing, I walked over to make conversation with my cousins as they played a car game on the TV screen. They were eight and six now and both took mostly after Sam in looks, whereas Evelyn was all Aunt Emily. After figuring out that I wasn't going to get a good conversation from them because of their vast interest in the game, I went over to play with Evelyn and Aunt Emily. I had just finished painting a rabbit when the front door opened and Quil walked in.

"Hey," I beamed, jumping into his arms. He squeezed tightly and I couldn't help from shivering at his boiling temperature. "What was the garage emergency?"

"The computer system crashed," Quil chuckled as we broke apart. "And Embry couldn't get it working again so I had to go over and mess around with it."

"Did you fix it?"

"Of course I did," he winked and I almost melted.

Evelyn called for our attention so we sat down at the dining table together and played with her as Aunt Emily went to make dinner. Uncle Sam came home soon after, greeted everyone and then went to help Aunt Em in the kitchen. We watched TV together after eating, I sat next to Quil snuggled into his side and tried to forget none-best friend thoughts, until the kids had to go in the bath and bed. It left Quil and I in the living room together watching shitty sitcoms. His fingers gently played with the ends of my hair and I was more interested in watching the way his fingers moved than what was on the telly.

"Did you hear about Collin and Gabby?" I whispered through the quietness of the room.

"No," he replied in a soft voice. "What happened?"

"They kissed yesterday," I answered casually. I didn't want to sound jealous or he might run away. His fingers momentarily stopped fiddling with the ends of my hair, and then started again seconds later.

"Oh."

"She's really happy about it," I continued semi-desperately. "Has Collin not said anything?"

"I haven't seen him today."

"Oh, okay."

He continued twirling my hair and I let out a small sigh, knowing this conversation wasn't going anywhere. My eyes fluttered closed on their own accord, the rare silence of the house and Quil's heat were lulling me to sleep.

_Bang!_

The front door crashed open and I jumped in fright as Quil blocked my way to protect me. "Quil," Brady sighed in relief. "Man, we need you out here."

"What?"

"It's Embry."

That was all Brady needed to say. Quil turned to me with an apologetic look that I found far too cute. "I'm sorry, I need to go and see him," he said, kissing my forehead. "I'll be back, okay?"

He waited for me to nod and then he was off out the door and into the night. Worn out, I switched off the telly and sneakily jogged up to the guest bedroom at the back of the upstairs hallway. The bedroom was used for any person that wanted to sleep over at the Uley house though I was the one that used it the most. It was like a second bedroom to me. It had some jeans, tops and underwear in the wardrobe, my make-up and perfumes on the shelves and some pictures of me and the group. Aunt Emily had opened the window so I went over to close it only to see Brady and Quil in the backyard under the porch lights. They were at the edge of the woods talking furiously to each other. Quil looked disgusted and upset over something and Brady didn't look much better.

Automatically, I pressed myself against the window to get a better look at them. They had ditched their tops already, leaving them at their feet and standing in only pants. What the hell were they doing standing out in this weather? It was the end of January, for God's sake! It was freezing outside, you could even see their breath as they talked. I felt like shouting for them to put on jumpers but by the seriousness of their faces it looked like the wrong thing to do.

Just as I began to turn away, Brady unbuttoned his pants and let them drop to the grass. Though I shouldn't have, I stared. He had his hands covering his private parts but I could see his bare bum. He said something and then disappeared into the woods. My eyes attached to Quil to see if he thought this was as insane as I did, but he just looked angry and upset. Then he hooked his hands into his pants, turned and dropped them. My eyes zoomed in on the perfect roundness of his butt cheeks and the way that the skin there was slightly lighter than the rest of him was.

Already I felt like I was going to faint, however, Quil decided this would be the perfect time to turn into a wolf.

_Holy shit!_

The moment I blinked, he was gone.

What the hell had just happened? Was I dreaming? Had Aunt Emily slipped something into my dinner tonight?

_Oh, God_.

Did Quil, my best friends and lifetime confident, seriously just turn into...into a _wolf_?

No. No, no. That wasn't possible. It was against the laws of science. It was against _everything_ that was factual. There was no way in hell that Quil had just turned into a wolf!

But what had I just saw? It was as plain as day. One minute Quil was stood butt naked in the backyard, the next he was a giant ass wolf. It couldn't be true, it wasn't possible...was it?

I started to hyperventilate and had to sit down on the floor to calm myself down, I couldn't even make it to the bed. Hysteria rose to every cell in my body and I started to shake. How could any of this be real? I had always thought there was something _off _about Quil and his friends, but _this_? Not even in my wildest dreams had I thought of this happening. Maybe some secret gang, but turning into a _wolf_?

I started to curse myself about not asking more questions over the years. Why had I not questioned more when my Uncle and his friends had to run out into the woods? Why had I not questioned their mysterious behaviour more? Why had I not forced Quil to tell me? I had trusted him, even more than my parents sometimes, and yet he had lied to me my entire life. I couldn't believe it, Quil, _my _Quil, had blatantly lied to my face without so much as a second thought! Did he really think so little of me? Did he not trust or love me at all?

I felt sick. Not only at Quil but at everyone. If I thought correctly all the guys were wolves, even my Uncle Sam. I had always thought they looked like brothers and shared a strange connection, but I thought it had been because they had grown up together. How wrong I was! Who was in on it? Was my Aunt Emily? Aurora? Renesmee? Embry? Jake? My parents? Nora? Who else had lied to me for most of my damn life?

I needed answers and I needed them soon. Hurt, angry and confused, I stumbled to my feet and burst out the door and down the hallway. Without really thinking about it I ran to Quil's apartment, forgetting he wouldn't be there considering he'd just gone wolf into the woods. Sniffling, I took a seat on the sofa and waited for Quil to come home. Tears streamed down my cheeks before I could even begin to stop them. I shuffled into the corner of the sofa, wrapped my arms around my legs and started to sob.

Betrayal was a horrible feeling.

* * *

**Thoughts?**

**Thanks for the reviews, favourites and alerts! I love you guys! **

**Sorry for the late update, I know it's been three weeks but my life has been hectic! I don't have a valid excuse, but I hope you don't mind too much :)**

**Remember pictures are on my profile!**

**Also, I personal reading question that I'm curious about, do you guys like First Person POV or Third Person POV better? I'm writing a new story and I can't decide which one I prefer, so I'm asking my trusted readers!**

**Thanks for being patient!**

**-Laylax**


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